Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif slammed the critics for questioning Virat Kohli after the team registered an eight-wicket win in the opening ODI against the West Indies at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
Kohli scored a magnificent knock of 139 runs off just 88 balls with the help of 10 fours and nine sixes at a strike rate of 157.95. He added 151 runs with skipper Shubman Gill to put in a commanding position in the run-chase of 296.
The veteran also became the second batter after Sachin Tendulkar to complete 15000 ODI runs and he got to the milestone in 74 innings quicker than the Master Blaster. This was Kohli’s 55th ODI century and his 86th International ton.
Kaif recalled that people told Kohli to retire after he bagged two consecutive ducks against Australia in Australia.
“I still remember when Kohli got out for consecutive ducks in Australia, people told him to retire and that he cannot do it now. After that, Kohli has scored 900 runs in 11 innings with four hundreds. He has played only 11 innings in a year, which is one match per month. Despite not playing regularly, the way he has batted in this game, he is a boundary hitter, but he scored nine sixes here. He has not done this before. This is something new. This is his new side. He is showing that he is 37, has had a long career with ups and downs, but his weapon is his bat. Until his bat is doing the talking, no one has the guts to touch him. Nobody can touch him. He has made this clear,” Kaif said in a video on his YouTube channel.
The former UP batter highlighted that Kohli is consistently scoring runs and the youngster can learn how to maintain their fitness, hunger, and determination from the veteran.
“He plays in the IPL, there he made RCB champions back-to-back. Here in ODIs he is scoring in all games. This is brilliant. Youngsters need to learn his fitness, his hunger, his determination, his hard work and to keep yourself at that level. His end goal is to win games and come not out. This is Virat Kohli. You can learn this from him,” he said.
The second ODI between India and the West Indies will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, on Wednesday.
