Virat Kohli's 'a rare talent', says Gary Kirsten

Gary Kirsten praised his ex-pupil Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli received wholehearted praise from his ex-national coach Garry Kirsten.

In an interview with Espn Cricinfo, Kirsten said: “I always had a different kind of feeling when I started working with Virat Kohli. From the beginning, I was very sure that he was a rare talent and would become a great player. He grew massively in these past few years and has matured a lot. I was fortunate to be part of that process of seeing him grow and that give me immense pleasure.

“I have always been very careful about appointing someone in that place (Tendulkar’s replacement). It’s a very dangerous position and very risky to name anyone.

“All I can say is that Kohli is a fantastic batsman whom the opposition bowlers are finding difficult to get out. The teams nowadays do a lot of planning to get him out.”

Kohli made his ODI debut in 2008 and played 54 limited-over matches during the Garry Kirsten era.

Kirsten also praised upcoming talent Shikhar Dhawan with whom he had limited interaction when Dhawan made his ODI debut in 2010.

On Dhawan, he said: “Unlike Kohli, I haven’t seen much of Dhawan but what I have gathered over time after some interactions with him is that he has a massive amount of self-belief in his abilities which is very refreshing,”