Kohli could become India’s most successful cricketer ever, says Amay Khurasiya
What's the story
Former Indian cricketer Amay Khurasiya stated that the current Indian captain and probably the best batsman of this generation, Virat Kohli, could go on to become the greatest cricketer that India has ever produced.
In a recent interview, he compared Virat Kohli and A.B. de Villiers, both batsmen of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the modern-day legends in Lawn Tennis.
The details
Khurasiya did not want to miss out on the IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore that was held on Monday, and so he was present at the Holkar stadium to witness the proceedings.
“It is like getting to watch Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in my hometown,” he said. It was immediately clear that he was referring to Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers.
He didn't quite get his wish, though, as De Villiers didn't have to bat, but he got to see Kohli play some lovely strokes along with Parthiv Patel as the duo took RCB past KXIP’s paltry score of 88, without loss within nine overs.
In case you didn't know...
Khurasiya debuted against Sri Lanka in Pune in 1999. An attacking batsman, he stepped out and lofted the second ball he faced over the head of the bowler.
He went on to make 57 off 45 balls. The left-hander could, however, feature, in only 11 more ODIs for India. He was a part of the 1999 World Cup squad of India but never got to play a match.
“It was very frustrating. I feel I could have been considered for a game or two. I asked captain Mohammed Azharuddin why I wasn’t; he had no answer", Khurasiya said.
Khurasiya was part of the squad that was able to display Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid stitching a massive partnership against the Lankans at Taunton, which literally took the game away from the hands of the Islanders.
It was also during the same world cup that Sachin played a masterful knock of 140 against Kenya, just a day after returning from his father's funeral.
Khurasiya loves the aggression of Virat Kohli. He hopes Kohli preserves himself like Tendulkar did.
“Kohli has the talent to become India's most successful cricketer ever,” he said. “I was mighty impressed by the double hundred he scored in the Indore Test against New Zealand in 2016 without hitting a single six; that was just a few months after scoring four hundreds in the IPL.”
A chubby teenager at first, Kohli shot to instant recognition after captaining India to the title in the Under-19 World Cup at Kuala Lumpur in early 2008.
He soon joined the senior team in Sri Lanka, in the same year. In the absence of the regular openers, Kohli was given a chance to open the batting in the ODI series. He played some commendable knocks as India went on to win the ODI series. However, the established pair of Tendulkar and Sehwag kept Kohli out of the team.
Virat still continued to impress for Delhi and dominated all kinds of bowling attacks, clearly demonstrating that junior cricket was beneath his standards.
Kohli then travelled to Australia in 2009 for the Emerging players' tournament and stamped his authority all over the bowling attacks as the young prodigy, barely old enough then to receive his man-of-the-match champagne.
He ended the tournament with 398 runs from seven outings with two centuries and two fifties, ensuring his spot in the selectors' scheme of things.
The selectors had no choice but to give Kohli another go in the Indian side, and this time he strung together a number of impressive scores.
After being given an extended run, he repaid their faith by notching up his maiden ODI hundred in an impressive run-chase against Sri Lanka in December 2009 - his first of many exemplary knocks in run-chases.
In the World Cup final of 2011, the biggest stage of them all, Kohli, along with his Delhi teammate Gautam Gambhir, pulled off a largely underrated rescue effort with an 83-run stand after losing the openers early.
This knock played a crucial role in setting the platform for MS Dhoni's fabled knock of 91*, which eventually won India the World Cup on that enchanting evening in Mumbai.
That was seven years ago. Ever since that day, Kohli has continued to take giant strides in the limited-overs format.
Three years after his ODI debut, he was finally handed the coveted Test cap in the Caribbean islands in July 2011, owing to the need to rest the senior players. His first breakthrough innings came in the third Test of the Ind-Aus series the same year, an impressive 75 on a bouncy WACA Pitch at Perth.
Notching up India's only century of a disastrous tour, Kohli was the shining light in amidst the chaos, as he stroked his way to a hundred in the fourth Test at Adelaide, exhibiting the will to improve and extraordinary focus under pressure in the searing heat and pressure of Australia.
While he slowly made his way into the Test side, he went on a record-breaking spree in ODIs: the Indian record for the fastest to multiples-of-thousand runs in ODIs, culminating in the world record for the fastest to 9000 runs in ODIs.
He was also the highest run-scorer for India in ODIs for three consecutive calendar years - 2010, 2011 and 2012 and won the ICC ODI Cricketer of the year award in 2012.
Altogether, Kohli has played 66 tests, 208 ODIs and 57 T20Is, amassing 5564, 9588 and 1983 runs respectively in all formats.
The collective sums of eighty 50s, fifty-six 100s and six 200s he has scored so far through all three formats, speak volumes of his ability to play good innings.
If he has been very good in the international stages, he is on another level in the IPL. Playing for the RCB in 162 games, he has scored 4944 runs - making him the highest ever scorer in the IPL - including four 100s and thirty-four 50s.
All four of his hundreds came in the 2016 season when he became the top-scorer of the season with a mind-boggling total of 973 runs - the highest ever in a single IPL tournament.
Kohli has a seemingly hot head on his shoulders, but he channels all his anger while he is batting.
Known to be an aggressive batsman always on the lookout for runs, he has a fairly sound, albeit slightly unconventional technique, which makes him judge the length of the ball earlier than most, and amazingly quick wrists to run his hands through the ball, even against fast bowlers.
He is equally adept against pace and spin and never looks ungainly at the crease. With nimble foot-movement against the spinners, he is known to be quite destructive when the situation demands it.
Author's take
One would certainly be lost if he/she were to take a look at all the records that Virat Kohli has already collected in the course of his career.
WIth at least another seven to eight years ahead of him, Virat is only bound to make and break more records, as even the God of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar has some of his records, earlier believed to stand on strong foundations, now has started shaking a bit. Virat certainly has had to fill some rather big shoes of his predecessors and has done an admirable job, to say the least.