Kohli’s ability to hit centuries at will ‘absolutely staggering’, says Matthew Hayden

Hardly a match goes nowadays without India captain Virat Kohli registering some record or other. On Saturday, Kohli slammed his second consecutive hundred of the series in Ranchi although the effort was not enough to get India home as they lost by 32 runs. Nevertheless, Kohli’s incredible form with the bat has impressed all – the fans and experts, across the globe. The 123-off 95 balls also made Kohli the third-highest run-getter in ODIs for India after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and the fastest to reach 4,000 runs in ODIs as the captain.

Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden is among those impressed by Kohli’s unbelievable hunger for runs and the consistency (he has now scored seven hundreds in last 11 ODI matches at home) and he said the India captain’s ability to score centuries at will is “absolutely staggering” and the tempo with which he collects those runs is “incredible”. Kohli made batting looked easy when most other top-order Indian batsmen struggled to score in the chase the Australian total of 313.

Kohli plays out of his skin, feels Haydos

“Absolutely staggering. I am trying to think back, check the memory banks of brilliant players over the years. Maybe Brian Lara in his heyday, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly all these players have been on top of their game at various points in one-day cricket. But Virat Kohli is doing it so easy.”

“He is drifting away to a hundred. Not only that, just the way he is transcending every game seems to be a different performance,” Hayden was quoted as saying by Star Sports after Australia’s win on Friday. India now lead the five-match series 2-1 with the next match to be played in Mohali on Sunday. Kohli does play out of his skin, the 47-year-old said.

Kohli, who hit a hundred in the second ODI in Nagpur that India won by eight runs, hit his eighth against Australia and the third this year. He broke Tendulkar’s record of scoring most hundreds (four) in India-Australia games at home with his knock in Ranchi.

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