Cricket News
‘Players can’t imagine scoring 45 hundreds across formats’ – Former Pakistan cricketer showers praise on Virat Kohli after his hundred against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli showed glimpses of his old self during the first ODI between India and Sri Lanka on Tuesday as the star batter scored his second consecutive hundred in ODI cricket. The former India captain notched up a magnificent 113 off 87 balls to take the ‘Men-in-Blue’ to a huge total of 373/7 in the allotted 50 overs. It was Kohli’s 45th ODI hundred which puts him just four behind the record of Sachin Tendulkar who has 49 hundreds in ODI cricket.
Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal has hailed Kohli, saying that players nowadays can’t even think of scoring 45 tons across formats, let alone in one format.
“Nowadays, players can’t even imagine of scoring 45 centuries across formats, but Virat Kohli has scored as many in a single format. He has scored 73 international tons so far. He definitely got chances, but he made the most of those chances. ,”Akmal said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Akmal then went on to explain why Kohli is such an important player for India, especially in global and continental tournaments.
“He had scored a century on this venue two-three years back and now he has rediscovered his form by scoring another hundred. He performed in the World Cup and the Asia Cup. The runs haven’t dried up, which tells how important a player he is for India,” added Akmal.
Kohli’s return to form a positive sign for team India ahead of ODI World Cup 2023
After having a torrid time with the bat since 2020, Kohli scored his 44th ODI hundred in December 2022 after a gap of 1214 days. Earlier, the 34-year-old brought up his elusive 71st international hundred in September last year after a gap of 1020 days.
Kohli found his mojo back just before the 20-20 World Cup and finished as the highest run scorer of the tournament with 296 runs to his name. With the ODI World Cup set to be held later this year in India, Kohli’s return to form is a positive sign for India heading into the tournament. The ‘Men-in-Blue’ haven’t won a single major trophy since their Champions Trophy victory in 2013 and will look to end the drought finally this year.