According to former Australia captain Ian Chappell, Virat Kohli has excelled and even surpassed Brian Lara, the legendary West Indian batsmen, when it comes to placement of shots. He hailed the aggressive batsman as the “finisher for all time”.
After the aggressive knock of 82 not out from Kohli, following a group match against Australia in the ICC World T20 2016, “Of modern players, Brian Lara, I thought was the best placer of the ball. I think I have got Brian in the second spot now.”
“This is the best T20 innings I have ever seen. He is the finisher for all time. He had built a reputation out and today he just cemented that. It was exhilarating,” said Chappell.
The former Australian captain was in all praise for the epic knock from Kohli.
“I hate to remind Mahela (Jayawardene) that I had the pleasure of watching Virat chase down 300 plus score (321 in 36.4 overs vs Sri Lanka at Hobart). I never thought someone could better that while chasing.”
Chappell said that he saw some great batsmen with supple wrists like VVS (Laxman), Azharuddin, etc, but Virat was some one who hits ball powerfully with wrist work.
“He (Virat) is called a finisher and there is a reason why. Michael Bevan was known as a finisher and he did it in a few short overs. But this man comes in at No 3 and does it for such long periods,” praised Chappell.
- Sumana
