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Arun Lal: Virat Kohli has raised the bar for budding cricketers

Lal inspired the budding cricketers by saying that there is no substitute for hard work.

Arun Lal believes Virat Kohli is a game changer like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly © AFP
Arun Lal believes Virat Kohli is a game changer like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly © AFP

Former India and Bengal cricketer and now a renowned commentator, Arun Lal, praised Test skipper Virat Kohli for his recent heroics with the bat. According to Lal, who had recently defeated jaw cancer and came back into the commentary box last month, feels Kohli has triggered a paradigm shift in cricket and raised the bar for budding cricketers. Virat Kohli scored his maiden double century in Tests during Day Two of the first Test versus West Indies at Antigua. He also became the only Indian captain to score a double hundred in overseas. Ravichandran Ashwin also brought up his third century, all against West Indies, to strengthen India’s position in the first Test.  LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs West Indies 2016, 1st Test at Antigua

According to CricWizz, Lal said, “Virat Kohli is the paradigm shift. He has taken the bar, the level up for every budding cricketer. He is a game changer like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Of late, Kohli has been a prolific run scorer for the national team as well as for his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as he notched up four centuries in IPL 2016. Batting at No. 4, Kohli dominated the West Indian bowling and helped India to post a huge total in the first innings.

Lal, who was an integral part of Bengal cricket during his playing days, inspired the budding cricketers by saying that there is no substitute for hard work. He also added that talent is “overrated”. Lal played in 16 Tests and 13 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for India.  ALSO READ: Oh Virat Kohli, why are you so awesome?

He further added, “Charles Paddock (US athlete) was short and people told him he could never win the 100 meters. But he believed in himself, he left his native place, sacked his coach and worked really hard. He went onto win the gold medal in the 100 meters sprint in the Olympics in 1920. His secret was: If you can, you can. My advice to all the youngsters will be to work hard and believe in oneself.”

The 60-year-old former cricketer, who was a member of Bengal’s Ranji Trophy winning team in 1989-90 season, also added that the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President Sourav Ganguly is the right man to take the organisation forward. He concluded by saying, “He was a great player, he is a great administrator. No one better than him.”

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