Published: Jan 15, 2019, 10:50 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 15, 2019, 10:50 PM (IST)
Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin heaped praise on Virat Kohli’s consistency in international cricket and reckons that if the swashbuckling batsman is fit, then he can go past 100 international centuries. Kohli smashed a fine 104 in India’s series-levelling six-wicket win in the second ODI against Australia on Tuesday. Kohli, who registered his 39th ODI century, led India’s run chase as the tourists successful chased down 299 with six wickets and four balls remaining. (ALSO READ: Tonight was an MS classic: Virat Kohli hails MS Dhoni)
With his century at Adelaide — his 39th in ODIs — Kohli became the 11th highest run-getter in the format. He has now 64 international centuries, third most after Sachin Tendulkar‘s 100 tons and Ricky Ponting‘s 71.
“Virat Kohli’s consistency is very good. If he stays fit, he will reach the 100-century mark. He is way ahead of many great players as far as his consistency is concerned. He is a great player and India have hardly lost whenever he has scored a century,” Azahruddin was quoted as saying by India Today on Tuesday. (ALSO READ: My prayer is to leave MS Dhoni alone and he will continue doing well: Sunil Gavaskar)
Azharuddin also showered praise on MS Dhoni, who scored an unbeaten 55 off 54.
“If you look at the trend whenever India’s top three score runs, we go on to win the match. Unfortunately, in the previous match we lost three early wickets. Rohit Sharma did score a century, but we lost. But today, Virat Kohli batted extremely well and MS Dhoni too played well. Dhoni even got tired in the end but he kept his wicket intact. Dinesh Karthik also batted well. Overall, India’s performance was very good,” Azhar said. (ALSO READ: Team wants me to finish games batting at No. 6: Dinesh Karthik)
“If you are out of practice and not playing domestic cricket, it becomes difficult to adjust to international cricket. I think that was reason Dhoni played slow innings in the first ODI but today he batted well. It was a match-winning knock.”
