West Indian legend compares Kohli to Sachin and Miandad

Playing his milestone 500th game, Virat Kohli is close to creating yet another record which might never be broken. Kohli is just 13 runs behind a century in his 500th international match. If Kohli is able to bring up the three-figure mark then he will become the first cricketer to score a century in his 500th international game. The run machine from India is currently batting on 87 at the end of play on Day 1. Kohli is just the fourth cricketer from India after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni to play 500 international games. Former West Indian fast bowler, Courtney Walsh praised Kohli and compared him with Sachin Tendulkar and Javed Miandad among others.

Walsh compares Kohli to Sachin Tendulkar

Walsh while comparing Kohli and Sachin, said, “Well, as an Indian great, I would rate him just behind Sachin. Sachin is one of the greatest I have seen and played against.” The former fast bowler also compared Kohli with players from West Indies, Australia, England and Pakistan. Walsh while making the comparisons said, “Brian Lara, Viv Richards, I will put them up from a West Indian point of view. Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh. Two gentleman I played when I was a youngster. There are also Graham Gooch from England and Javed Miandad, against whom I probably did not as much games, but the value they put on their wickets reminded me of Virat Kohli as well. He doesn’t want to go. So I will definitely have him in my top 4, top 5 greatest cricketers I have seen.”

IND vs WI

The team’s campaign in the third WTC cycle off to a great with an unbeaten 87 by Kohli in the second test match, who also scored 76 in India’s innings triumph over West Indies last week in Dominica. This was Kohli’s second consecutive fifty-plus score on the tour.

Walsh remembered a conversation he had with Kohli when the West Indies selector was in charge, saying that even then, he could see greatness in the young cricketer. Later in his remarkable career, Kohli reached new heights by playing 111 Tests for India and accumulating over 9500 runs, as well as 274 ODI and 115 T20I appearances and scoring 12898 and 4008 runs, respectively.

Walsh further said, “He has got the passion for the game, he wants to leave a mark in the game. I remember having a conversation with him when I was the selector for West Indies, and he was the captain. We were having a chat. You could tell that he wants to be the best. He was willing to seek out advice from anyone that will help to do so. I am not surprised by the achievement. The passion he has and the drive he has to be the top 3, top 5 in everything he does.”