‘If he plays 30 more Test matches…’ – Former PAK bowler’s bold statement on Virat Kohli

Former Pakistan speedster, Shoaib Akhtar has given valuable advice to former India skipper Virat Kohli during the ongoing bilateral series against Australia, in which the three-match series is levelled at a scoreline of 1-1. The series decider is set to be played at MA Chidambaram in Chennai on Wednesday, March 22.

Recently, Kohli went on to score the 28th Test century of his international career after a long gap of 1205 days in the fourth and final Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Sunday, March 12. The last century he scored was back in November 2019, in the pink-ball Test match against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, which was also India’s first-ever Day-Night Test for the Rohit Sharma-led side. There, he scored 139 runs against the Bangla Tigers.

I feel he should stick with only Test and ODI formats: Shoaib Akhtar

After winning the Border-Gavaskar series 2-1 against Australia, India became the first team to qualify for the World Test Championship finals for the second consecutive time.

Akhtar, who recently endorsed Kohli to break Sachin Tendulkar‘s amazing century record in international cricket, has made another powerful declaration regarding the top scorer of the Indian team. Akhtar, a former Pakistan pacer, believes that Kohli should only prioritize playing in the two formats of international cricket at this time when he has returned to scoring for India across all formats.

“As a cricketer, if you ask me, I feel he should stick with only Test and ODI formats. T20I unki energy bahot nikaal deta hai (T20I format drains a lot of his energy). He is a very excited kind of character. He wants to be out there, he wants to look good. He wants to have a good time in T20Is. He likes it. But at times, he needs to save his body. How old is he right now? 34 right? Easily he can play for about 6 to 8 years. If he plays 30-50 more Test matches, I’m sure it won’t be difficult for him to score 25 centuries in those Test matches,” Akhtar was quoted as saying on Sports Tak.