Team India registered a comprehensive victory by six wickets against South Africa in Durban. Virat Kohli led from the front to chase yet another target down and scored his 20th ODI ton in run chases.
After such performance, former skipper Sourav Ganguly got out of words to praise his successor. In his interview with India Today, he ranked Kohli as the greatest ODI batsman along with Sachin Tendulkar.
Praising his efforts to take India home in another run-chase Ganguly said India would have been in trouble without Kohli’s runs.
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“Virat Kohli is really special. The more you and I see him, he seems unbelievable. The chase was just remarkable. You may say the wicket didn’t have much pace or movement as a typical Durban pitch. But if Kohli would’ve got out there, India won’t have won the game. He plans out where to score against, which bowler to attack and whom to go after. That’s what makes him special,” said Ganguly.
Kohli has played just over 200 One-Day International matches, where he has 9,142 runs at an average of 56.09 including 33 centuries. Thus, he is second in the list of most hundreds in ODI cricket leading by Tendulkar.
Dada feels Kohli is raising the bar in limited-overs cricket and if remains fit, he can scale every mountain in next few years.
“I’ve witnessed Sachin Tendulkar play and with all that talk going around him closing on to Sachin’s records. I don’t see a reason why not. He keeps getting better and better. The sky is the limit for him. And it’s such a pleasure watching him bat every time,” he added.
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“I think he’s the greatest alongside Sachin. But God knows what’s gonna happen, after 7-8 years if he continues to maintain his fitness.”
The second ODI will be played in Centurion on Sunday and India will try to go 2-0 up in the series.
