Playing his 500th international match, Virat Kohli stands on the verge of scripting history. Not out on 87, Kohli is just 13 runs shy of a century, which would be a fine way of celebrating a landmark. (More Cricket news)
Kohli is poised to become the first ever cricketer to score a century in his 500th international match after finishing Day 1 of the second Test match unbeaten on 87 which resurrected India to 288 for four.
West Indies' iconic pace bower Courtney Walsh lavished praise on the 34-year-old by comparing him to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistani batting great, Javed Miandad.
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The former West Indies fast bowler claimed that Kohli reminds him of Tendulkar, Miandad and Graham Gooch of England, and said that he definitley stands amongst the greatest cricketers of all-time.
"Well, as an Indian great, I would rate him just behind Sachin. Sachin is one of the greatest I have seen and played against," Walsh told JioCinema.
"Brian Lara, Viv Richards, I will put them up from a West Indian point of view. Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh. Two gentlemen I played when I was a youngster. There are also Graham Gooch from England and Javed Miandad, against whom I probably did not play as much games, but the value they put on their wickets reminded me of Virat Kohli as well. He doesn't want to go. So I will definitely have him in my top 4, top 5 greatest cricketers I have seen," Walsh added.
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Walsh also rewinded back to the days when he was the selector of the West Indies team and recalled one of his chats with Kohli. The Delhi-born batter went on to make a superlative career in world cricket where he played 111 Tests for India scoring over 9500 runs, along with 274 appearances in ODIs and 115 in T20Is, notching up 12898 and 4008 runs respectively.
"He has got the passion for the game, he wants to leave a mark in the game. I remember having a conversation with him when I was the selector for West Indies, and he was the captain. We were having a chat. You could tell that he wants to be the best. He was willing to seek out advice from anyone that will help to do so. I am not surprised by the achievement. The passion he has and the drive he has to be the top 3, top 5 in everything he does," Walsh said.
