A ‘Virat’ Statement

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag are the 3 people whose names would feature in every person’s list of India’s greatest batsmen.

Former New Zealand Captain, Martin Crowe, in his statement, complimented the star Indian batsman, Virat Kohli by calling him a combination of the 3 greats of Indian cricket mentioned above. For a 25 year old cricketer this is a huge adulation and a moment to cherish but on the other hand it is also at par with encumbering a lot of expectations on his shoulders when you compare him to Tendulkar, Dravid & Sehwag.

Virat Kohli over the years has become the back bone of the Indian batting line-up. All the famous victories that India snatched from the hands of the opposition, recently, have had Virat playing a major role in them. His 18 ODI centuries is also the 2nd highest among current players, only 3 behind Chris Gayle.

If we analyze Virat’s career the only patch of average form we can find is during the 2011 ODI World Cup where he started-off with a brilliant hundred against Bangladesh but then took the back seat and contributed with 30s and 40s towards the team’s triumph. Even now, when the Indian batsmen are struggling to score runs abroad, Virat Kohli is the only player who has shown no signs of trouble and has flourished match after match.

When Crowe refers him to a combination of Sachin, Dravid and Sehwag, he in a way foresees an impeccable batsman with the best qualities of the best in this trade. Imagine a batsman who can bat with Sachin’s finesse, Dravid’s patience and Sehwag’s power. It would be difficult to get this batsman out and above that it would become impossible to contain this player.

Virat Kohli’s batting style is closely woven with the best of these three. When other batsman fail, Kohli stands alone and guides India ahead just like Sachin Tendulkar as he makes a massive contribution in chases, something which Sachin did so many times during his glorious career.

When the run rate is touching the sky, he grabs it by the tail and thrashes it to the ground just like Sehwag. Cudgel your brains and remember the innings in Hobart against Sri Lanka and then against Pakistan in Bangladesh during the Asia cup. When India needs a batsman to stay on the wicket in order to stabilize the innings, it is Virat Kohli who adapts to the situation and becomes a wall between the opponent and victory just like Dravid – remember his 1st overseas 100 in Australia and the recent one against South Africa.

But it is too early to compare Virat Kohli to these legends, Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, spent 24 years of his life to become a stalwart in the world of cricket that he is. It would be unfair to the name Sachin itself to be compared to a player who has just spent 5 years on the international circuit. The same goes for Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag.

Sachin’s comparisons to Sir Don Bradman started only after he had toppled every other batsman in the World. Virat Kohli, by the look of things, looks very promising and even has what it takes to become a flawless batmen with a mix of qualities from Sachin, Rahul and Sehwag’s repertoire but calling him that is too early to state anything.

People around the world had copious amount of expectations from these three legends and a mixture of the three would only end up having three times the expectations from people. With the Test series underway in New Zealand and a majority of foreign tours this year, 2014 will be a testing year for Virat Kohli. Hope he will not be carried away by this ‘Virat’ statement.