Former Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara has praised Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his achievements. Recently, a BBC reporter and Sri Lankan fan mentioned that Kohli fell short of 50 runs from Sangakkara’s record of most international runs in a calendar year, Sangakkara quickly replied to the same.

Kumar mentioned that Kohli ‘is a different class’ and could break his record next year. Here are the top five batsmen with most international runs in a calendar year:

Kumar Sangakkara, 2,968 runs (2014)
Ricky Ponting, 2,833 runs (2005)
Virat Kohli, 2,818 runs (2017)
Kane Williamson, 2,692 runs (2015)
Angelo Mathews, 2,657 runs (2014)

Here’s the tweet of the Sri Lankan fan:

Kumar Sangakkara’s 2868 runs in 2014 will remain as the highest tally ever recorded in a calendar year as Virat Kohli ends year 2017 with 2818 runs #Cricket

— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) December 5, 2017

Here’s how Sangakkara replied to the tweet:

I don’t think that will last long the way @imVkohli is batting. He will probably overtake it next year and then do it again the year after. He is a different class.

— Kumar Sangakkara (@KumarSanga2) December 6, 2017

Kohli could have easily broken that record this year itself if he was featuring limited-overs series against Sri Lanka. He has been rested for the India vs Sri Lanka limited overs series.

Recently, Virat became the first cricketer to score 6 double centuries in Test cricket as a skipper. However, Sangakkara reckons that Kohli can break records and even better his own records in the years to come. Though his real test will be in January 2018 when India will tour South Africa for the three-match Test series.