Mumbai: Virat Kohli neither has Chris Gayle’s “strength”, nor A B de Villiers’ “ability” but has still managed to eke out a successful T20 career on the back of his supreme fitness levels, feels former India opener Gautam Gambhir. Kohli, who has been successful in Tests and ODIs, has also made a mark in T20s, scoring 2,794 runs from 82 games with an average of 50.8.
“He (Kohli) was always a very smart cricketer, but then he turned his entire T20 career into a very successful one, just by being supremely fit,” Gambhir said on Star Sports. “Probably because he does not have the strength of Chris Gayle, he doesn’t have the ability of AB de Villiers, he probably does not have the ability of Jacques Kallis or Brian Lara,” he observed. The southpaw was asked what makes the India captain so effective in the shortest format of the game. “The biggest strength he’s got is now his fitness and he’s turned that into his game as well, that’s why he has become so successful, so you got to give it to the guy.
“The most important thing is that he runs really well between the wickets, not many people do it,” added Gambhir, who was part of both 2007 and 2011 World Cup winning Indian teams.
Kohli has also been successful in the Indian Premier League, having scored 5,412 runs from 177 games. “There are very few cricketers in world cricket at this time who can rotate of every ball and that is what Virat Kohli does really well and that’s why he’s different from the rest,” said Gambhir. According to Gambhir, Kohli is more consistent than his teammate and star batsman Rohit Sharma, when it comes to rotating the strike.
“You see Rohit Sharma, probably Rohit Sharma doesn’t have that quality which Virat Kohli has to rotate the strike,” he said. Rohit Sharma has the ability to hit those big shots, but that’s where Virat Kohli is more consistent than Rohit Sharma,” added the former Delhi batsman. “Chris Gayle or AB de Villiers don’t have that ability to rotate the strike, especially against spin bowling, but Virat Kohli has that, that’s why he averages 50,” Gambhir signed off. (PTI)
