Former Indian cricket team head coach and well-known broadcaster, Ravi Shastri, has recently paid the ultimate yet heartwarming tribute to the modern-era legend Virat Kohli for his longevity across the three formats of the game.
Shastri has hailed the Indian batting dynamo as one of the all-time greatest ever players for his unparalleled dominance in the game of cricket, emphasizing his extraordinary impact across all formats over a decade.
Ravi Shastri’s heartfelt tribute to Virat Kohli goes viral
The 1983 World Cup winner Ravi Shastri has further pointed out that other players like Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Rohit Sharma have made their mark in specific formats, but Kohli has been exceptional in ODIs, T20Is, and Tests for more than a decade, which has set him apart.
The former Indian captain also mentioned how Virat Kohli has consistently ranked among the top cricketers in every format, highlighting his extraordinary versatility, adaptability, and skill.
Ravi Shastri stressed that Kohli’s ability to maintain peak performance across formats over such an extended period of time proved his greatness and set his place as one of the cricketing legends.
As Virat Kohli continues to chase milestones and add to his legacy, Shastri also stressed that people can’t compare players of different eras, and there couldn’t be a bigger tribute than this not to compare the former Team India skipper with anyone.
Virat has shown why he’s different: Shastri
He also insisted that Virat Kohli has shown the world why he is different from others with his game, so he should not be compared with other legends.
Ravi Shastri said on the ICC Review: “I think one of the greats of the game. He dominated that decade of cricket across formats of the game. When you look at one player who dominated all three formats of the game for a period of 10 years, it had to be Virat Kohli. I mean, you would get Joe Root in one format, you’d get Steve Smith in one format, and you’d get Rohit Sharma in one format.”
Shastri further noted, “But this guy was in the top two or three across all formats, be it the ODI or T20I cricket and, of course, Test cricket. So no, no, no bigger tribute; you don’t compare players of different eras. But if someone can stay on top of a sport for that long period of time at the top across formats, it just shows his versatility, his ability to adapt, and just shows his skill sets to be able to do that. Not many can, but he’s shown why he’s different.”
Watch here how Ravi Shastri pays tribute to Virat Kohli:
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Notably, the dashing right-hander is currently on the Sri Lanka tour with Team India for the ongoing three-match ODI series, where he has so far scored only 24 and 14 in the first two games.
Now, Kohli would certainly love to produce a match-winning performance in the final ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo, where he can script history if he manages to score 114 runs and becomes the fastest player to reach 14,000 runs in ODI cricket.