Brett Lee points out similarities between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli has been among the few consistently bright spots for the Indian team in the Victoria Bitter ODI series against Australia. In the fourth innings he notched up 106 runs from 92 balls. His innings included 11 fours and one six.
He also equaled Sachin Tendulkar's record of most centuries while chasing with 15 such instances. This put him in rare company. He also became the second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to score four successive fifty plus scores against Australia in Australia.
Brett Lee said “Hats off to Virat Kohli. He is a legend. He has been in terrific form. Where do you bowl to the great man, it is almost like Sachin Tendulkar when he used to come out to bat. He had that presence and Kohli too has that aura around him.”
“Once he gets going it is very difficult to get him out. He has got aggression and control of course, the guy is in terrific form. I think India played particularly well to score 300, two times then getting close and then getting run down by Australia.”
“They are playing good cricket. Unfortunately for them, they really didn’t have the attack to bowl Australia out. Australia chased down 300 on three occasions,” he said.
Lee also said that he felt that this series could have gone either way. “The most important thing is that they don’t give up on cricket in the dead rubbers. As I said, they came very close in the first three games. It could have gone either well. If (Glenn) Maxwell got out in MCG then Australia would have lost and it would have been 2-1 in Canberra.” he added.
“Unfortunately for India, that was not the case and India have to fight back, they have to make sure they get early wickets and expose the middle order of the Australian cricket team pretty early.” he said.
Brett Lee also had some good things to say about Indian bowlers despite the poor showing. “Look, I have always been a fan of Yadav. I think he has got good pace and he has got the aggression. I am really impressed by Sran, particularly in the first game in Perth, during his three wickets, he swung back the ball nicely. He has a beautiful seam position as well. He is really skinny and he will naturally get bigger as he gets older, bowling wise he will become a better bowler,” he said.
Brett Lee had announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in January 2015. He had retired from international cricket back in 2012. But he had continued to play Twenty20 in the Big Bash League and the Indian Premier League.
He complimented India on their play, despite losing the series. “I think India played particularly well to score 300, two times then getting close and then getting run down by Australia. They are playing good cricket. Unfortunately for them, they really didn't have the attack to bowl Australia out. Australia chased down 300 on three occasion," he said.