The cricketing fraternity lauded India captain Virat Kohli in unison
after he single-handedly decimated the South Africa bowling department
to help his team register a 5-1 series victory. Following his
match-winning 35th ODI hundred, India team head coach Ravi Shastri described the red-hot form of the 29-year-old cricketer in his inimitable style. Running out of words
to admire the batting style of Kohli, Shastri said that one should go
to a bookstore to buy the latest Oxford dictionary to improve their
vocabulary in order to praise the stylish right-handed batsman. "I have a
tip for you. If I was in your position I know what I would be doing
tomorrow. I would be going to the bookstore and buying the latest Oxford
dictionary, just to improve my vocabulary (in praise of Kohli),"
Shastri told PTI.
Kohli
became the first Indian batsman to score three centuries in a bilateral
ODI series and Shastri feels that the sheer impact of his brilliance
makes him "world's best batsman" at the moment.
"It's
not just about averages, it is the way you get runs when you get it,
and the impact those runs have on what the team does. I would simply say
he is the best batsman in the world now," Shastri remarked.
Kohli
along with Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steven Smith are considered to
be the four top batsmen in world cricket but Shastri feels that the
Indian skipper is in a league of his own.
Kohli
finished the series with 558 runs, which included three centuries and a
fifty. Shastri credited the batsman's intensity which makes him lethal,
especially in run chases.
"You
spoke of intensity. Where does the intensity come from? When you have a
leader like that, who leads by example, the other guys jolly well
follow. Otherwise, they know what to expect. That's the beauty of this
team on this trip where I feel proud as a coach about my boys and the
intensity they showed," the former India captain said.
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