I would've loved to have a bowl at Virat Kohli: Andrew Flintoff

Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff heaped praises on India captain Virat Kohli and even rated the 28-year-old as the best in his business. The former all-rounder praised even saying that he would have loved bowling against the Indian skipper.

At present, Virat Kohli is in the top 5 of ICC rankings, in all three formats of the game. He also became the first cricketer to slam four Test doubles in consecutive Test series, going past Sir Donald Bradman and Rahul Dravid.

Flintoff was quoted as saying on metro.co.uk, “He’s (Kohli) absolutely on his own. You look at the four main captains; Steve smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Virat Kohli. They’re all very, very good players but Virat is head and shoulders above all of them.”

He further went on to point out how Kohli has mastered all kinds of shots and tricks, and how he fearlessly hits boundaries in limited overs cricket.

“You watch him play and the one thing that’s so impressive is that in Test cricket he’s got all the shots and tricks but decides to get his head down and grind runs out. And then in the short-form of the game he just hits boundaries without looking like taking a risk. He’s in complete control. The other three I mentioned are very good players but Kohli is on a different planet”

Kohli scored runs in leaps and bounds in all formats, against all oppositions India faced, except for the tour of England in 2014 — where he had a tough time against English pacers. Flintoff, however, feels that was a thing of the past and when India next tour England, Kohli will be a force to reckon with

“I would’ve loved to have a bowl at him but I honestly don’t know what his weaknesses are. It frustrates me when everyone says ‘he just does it in India, wait until he gets to England’. That’s nonsense, he’s a fine player. When he comes to England the ball will nip around a bit and he’ll adapt his game accordingly,” he added further.

In the 5-Test series held last year, Kohli scored a whopping 655 runs against England at 109.16. He slammed two centuries (including a double ton) and two half centuries during the Test series. He finished with the most number of runs in the series and appeared menacing against the England bowlers.