‘The best player I’ve seen in my life’: Australia coach Justin Langer regarding Virat Kohli

[Robert]

Virat is the greatest cricketer India has ever produced without a Shadow of doubt

Better than Gavaskar, Kapil, Tendulkar? I doubt it.

 

[ishtiaq_ctg]

India play t20, odi and tests lol. 3 formats lol
India also play the most number of games post 2000.
In 2000 era under Ganguly India never played odi and T20 prior to an important tes series hence they weren't fatigued.

Now India play both before a major test series. If you actually played sport you would know how taxing it could be on your body for the players.

India don't even have time to play tour games due to the packed schedule.

These are things you need to factor in before proclaiming Ganguly to be greater than Virat.

Yea ganguly's team performed well abroad but they never dominated at home ruthlessly like India does at home.

If India had the advantage of preparing for a tailored test series based season then the results would be vastly different.

This is nothing but excuse. 4 out of 7(5 if saha plays)of your batting lineup dosent even play much LOI(Pujara, Rahane, Vandari, Agarwal, Saha). You cant hide behind the excuse of lack of preparation when half of your test XI hardly plays LOIs.

Also It's not like India is the only team to play LOIs before a away test series. Australia drew an away ashes last year after playing the World Cup.

 

[tyron_woodley]

This is nothing but excuse. 4 out of 7(5 if saha plays)of your batting lineup dosent even play much LOI(Pujara, Rahane, Vandari, Agarwal, Saha). You cant hide behind the excuse of lack of preparation when half of your test XI hardly plays LOIs.

Also It's not like India is the only team to play LOIs before a away test series. Australia drew an away ashes last year after playing the World Cup.

it is a very valid excuse. fatigue takes a toll on the body when you play so many different formats before a major test series

lol there was a huge gap after wc. india play t20 and odi before a major test series. Like 7 days apart from the actual test series. Its not the same.

it is indeed a very valid excuse. But make no mistake if india actually toured australia to play an entire test series with the exclusion of short format, i have no doubt this team is more than capable of beating them albeit in a tough battle.

Now with all this bullsh*t bilaterals before a major series, i will say its 2 - 1 australia.

 

[Ab Fan]

Who did he vs to average 70 against in that period?

He played on roads at the time vs weak bowling attacks in home condtions.

Hell ABD defecates on Ponting.

Yeah agreed. Both Kohli and ABD are better than Ponting. Ponting batted like a tailender in India while both AB and Kohli have performed in all conditions away from home and better bowling attacks.

 

[tyron_woodley]

Yeah agreed. Both Kohli and ABD are better than Ponting. Ponting batted like a tailender in India while both AB and Kohli have performed in all conditions away from home and better bowling attacks.

Cool. You can trumpet about pomtng all you want. Even ponting's own mother won't say he is better than Kohli in tests. Ponting din't perform in India so I can't out him above Kohli. Kohli 2018 was one of the best ever.

In odi sure due to clutch innings he has scored in.

 

[MP2011]

All said and done, ODI WC is the pinnacle of ODI cricket but Kohli is yet to master even one of them despite already playing 3 ODI WCs.

In comparison other ODI ATGs have mastered at least 1 WC. Tendulkar had 3 such WCs.

Lets see if Kohli's last WC will finally be the one which he masters as per his supreme abilities in ODIs.

 

[MenInG]

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor believes current India skipper Virat Kohli is a very powerful guy in world cricket who does a very good job of being a statesman as well as an aggressive cricketer.

Virat Kohli a very powerful guy in world cricket, reckons Former Aussie skipper Mark Taylor.

Following the pink-ball Test, which will be played from December 17 to 21 in Adelaide during the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Kohli will return to India to be with wife Anushka Sharma who is expecting their first baby in January. However, he will take part in the limited-overs leg of the tour, which consist of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

"I think he is a very powerful guy in world cricket, but I think he does a very good job to walk that fine line in being an aggressive cricketer and also a statesman. I think he's doing it very well," Taylor was quoted as saying by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Accepting the notion that the talismanic Indian batsman could be the most powerful figure in the game, Taylor believes it's a title that sits well with Kohli.

"I think he treats that responsibility with great respect," the former Australia skipper said. "He's still very much his own person when you watch him play.

"I've always found him in the times I've spoken to him to be very respectful to the game and those playing it and those who have played it," he added.

Recently, current Australia head coach Justin Langer termed Kohli as "probably the best player" he has seen in his life.

"Virat Kohli is probably the best player I've ever seen in my life for so many reasons, not only batting but his energy and passion for the game, the way he fields," Langer said.

He also hailed Kohli's decision to leave the series mid-way in order to be with his wife.

"I cannot believe he displays the energy he does in everything he does and I've got so much respect for him. I've also got respect for him in the sense that he's made this decision (to return for the birth)," Langer said.

"He's a human being like all of us... if I was giving advice to any of my players I would always say never, ever miss the birth of your children because it is one of the great things you'll ever do," he added.

https://www.timesnownews.com/sports...s-former-australia-captain-mark-taylor/682084

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

It seems Aussies are deliberately praising Kohli lol. Kohli is not better than Ponting or Sachin who played against much better bowling attacks than the current one. Nice try by Langer though.

 

[tyron_woodley]

It seems Aussies are deliberately praising Kohli lol. Kohli is not better than Ponting or Sachin who played against much better bowling attacks than the current one. Nice try by Langer though.

No he did not. He faced the weakest Indian bowling lineups, weak Sri Lankan attacks with zero pace, overrated and under performing Pakistani attack who haven't won a game in Australia since 1995 or something.

Bowling is way better now.

Batting may be better back then because there was more first class matches being played prior to a test series as T20 wasnt an established format of cricket at the time.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Averaging 60 matters a lot, that's how you determine how good a player is. Otherwise Zaheer khan has better stats than Wasim akram in world cups.
The only difference between kohli and sachin is one knockout innings, if kohli does that he will surpass tendulkar quite easily.
Secondly you are talking about kohli having only one good overseas cycle completely ignoring the fact that he was prolific in Australia, Southafrica and ok in New Zealand before that. Also he has played for 10 years compared to sachins 24,sachin had many chances.

It's not one knockout innings bud unless it's a WC final.

Lots of knockout innings.

Averaging 60 in modern ODI while failing to score when it counts doesn't mean much.

Tendulkar has played many many important knocks and has carried the team in world tournaments.

Let's take a look:

WC 1996 - Tendulkar carried the team. Stellar knock against Aus and SL (SF).
WC 2003 - Highest run scorer
WC 2011 - Second highest run scorer (QF and SF performance)
1998 CT - Knocked out the almost invincible Aussies single handedly
2000 CT - The brutal assault on McGrath to take him out (Yuvi was the star tho) - Aussies knocked out.
2008 CB Series - Scored in 2 finals and won against Aus in Aus
1998 Desert Storm - They had to get one man out. They couldn't. We won.
1997 - Dhaka finals against Pak - Ganguly was the star but Tendulkar hit 40 runs at 140 SR to give the perfect start

Add to it Asia Cups and other series performances.

That's real impact.

Now let's compare Kohli

WC 2011 - Very useful WC finals contribution but was a passenger throughout the WC
WC 2015 - Except for the Pak 100...was a passenger. Less said about his SF performance, the better
CT 2017 - Same case. A decent knock here and there but the first sign of real trouble, he was gone.
WC 2019 - Same case as CT 2017.
CT 2013 - He scored a very important 40 in finals (alongside Jaddu's cameo) but it was a 20 overs game and we were SO underpar. Spinners and Ishan's luck won us the game we should have lost.

So if you look at his performance in important tournaments, you have a support role at WC 2011 and Ct 2013.

Nothing else to show.

Yes, he has been INSANE in JAMODIS and is easily better than Tendulkar there but overall as an ODI bat, I just don't see the impact.

He has the ability but the performances are just not there.

He keeps failing when it matters unfortunately.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Tendulkar is another level right now. The guy played 24 years at the top. It's going to be ridiculous to put someone barely in his 11th year in international cricket at Tendulkar's level already. He's a giant among the giants as far his achievements are concerned.

Kohli's biggest upcoming test is going to be whether he has the desire to put in tje hard work well into his late 30s.

Tendulkar was a freak in the sense that his desired to play cricket at the top level never ever dropped. If his body could support, he would be still playing cricket.

That plus his skills.

He was truly a freak of nature both skill-wise and hunger-wise.

Most lose their skills by early to mid 30s but he kept going on and on. He was better at age 36-37 than he was at 32-33. Crazy.

Kohli has a long way to go and that way is by scoring important runs.