"Look at his stats" - Hashmatullah Shahidi on the one Indian player he would love to have in the Afghanistan team
Afghanistan's Test and ODI captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has picked Virat Kohli as the one Indian player he would love to have in the Afghan team. Hailing Kohli, Shahidi said that his numbers speak for himself.
The 29-year-old cricketer recently led Afghanistan to a historic 2-1 series ODI win against South Africa in Sharjah. Afghanistan beat the Proteas by six wickets and 177 runs in the first two matches of the series. South Africa avoided a whitewash by beating Afghanistan by seven wickets in the dead rubber. Shahidi registered scores of 16 and 10 the two times he batted in the series.
Making an appearance on Shubhankar Mishra's YouTube channel, the left-handed batter shared his views on various aspects of cricket and many other facets of his life. Asked about the one Indian cricketer he would love to have in the Afghanistan team, Shahidi picked up Kohli. Elaborating on the reason behind his choice, the 29-year-old said:
"There are many, but I would go with Virat Kohli. Look at his stats, his performance. He has 50 hundreds in ODIs, which is a massive achievement. It is very easy to say, but going out and hitting hundreds as many as fifty times is something very big. His stats speak for himself."
Under Shahidi, Afghanistan had a memorable 2023 ODI World Cup campaign in India. They beat England, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in the league stage, narrowly missing out on a place in the semifinals. In eight Tests, 81 ODIs, and six T20Is, the southpaw has scored 485, 2,251, and 48 runs, respectively.
Virat Kohli is the only batter with 50 ODI tons
Former India captain Kohli is the only batter to have notched up 50 centuries in ODI cricket. He broke Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries during the 2023 ODI World Cup semifinal against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Kohli scored 117 off 113 balls with the aid of nine fours and two sixes as India hammered the Kiwis by 70 runs.
The 35-year-old is the fourth on the list of all-time leading run-getters in international cricket. In 534 matches (593 innings), he has amassed 26,965 runs at an average of 53.18, with 80 hundreds and 140 half-centuries.
Kohli is currently part of the Indian team for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh. He scored six and 17 in the first Test in Chennai. The second Test will be played at Green Park in Kanpur from Friday, September 27.