Virat Kohli has the best cover drive in the world, says Ian Bell
During a live session hosted on Sportskeeda's Facebook page, former England batsman Ian Bell praised Virat Kohli's technique and said that the captain of the Indian cricket team possesses a magnificent cover drive.
In the said interaction, Bell also touched upon an array of topics related to cricket. He talked about the technical aspects needed by a batsman to excel in international cricket.
Among the current generation of players, Bell picked up Virat Kohli as the best exponent of the cover drive. The former England international said that the cover drive is an integral part of Kohli's arsenal.
Ian Bell also said in this regard that Virat Kohli is the best active batsmen in world cricket:
"I really like technical batsman. He is probably the best at the moment. It's hard to look past Kohli's cover drive in world cricket."
Bell himself was a magnificent timer of the ball and was renowned for his elegant stroke-making during his playing days.
The right-hander played 118 Tests for England, where he scored 7727 runs, a tally that included 22 centuries and a double hundred. However, his performances in the limited-overs formats weren't as consistent. Bell played 160 ODIs and only eight T20Is, scoring a cumulative 5604 runs in both formats combined.
Virat Kohli has all the shots in the book
Virat Kohli thinks that a good cover drive is 'therapeutic'. The Indian captain's classy shot-making and elegant timing of the ball makes him one of the best in business. Virat Kohli's cover drives are a speciality and a treat to watch as he leans forward and pierces the gap in the cover region at will.
Virat Kohli was troubled in swinging English conditions in the summer of 2014. But he worked on his technique and excelled in India's next Test tour of the country four years later, where the captain scored three centuries. However, despite the captain's exploits with the bat, India lost the said series 4-1.
Apart from the cover drive, Virat Kohli's flick off the wrist, pulls, hooks, square cuts and the lofted inside out stroke over cover are shots par excellence that have served the Indian captain well in all formats of the game.