Sourav Ganguly reckons Virat Kohli is the greatest ever, even better than Viv Richards

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is overawed by the way the current Indian captain Virat Kohli is performing. Kohli has been a juggernaut in the modern day cricket. He is piling up hundreds at will. In the recently concluded ODI series against South Africa, Kohli smashed three ODI tons. He has taken his ODI tally of centuries to 35, next to only Sachin Tendulkar’s milestone number of 49.

Amidst this backdrop, the comparisons have obviously started. When asked if Virat Kohli is greatest ever, Sourav Ganguly responded in positive. Ganguly rated Virat Kohli at par with Sachin Tendulkar and remarked that Kohli is arguably better than legendary cricketer Viv Richards as well. Ganguly cited that the way Kohli has been scoring centuries, he is certainly at a whole new greatness level.

“Yes, absolutely. Because numbers do show something. I once again say that I don’t compare eras but numbers do have a meaning. 35 hundreds and Viv I don’t know how many 14 or 15. Yes bowling attacks were different but numbers don’t lie. I think I’ll keep him ahead of Viv Richards. He once again scored a hundred chasing a target and that was an easy century. He doesn’t nick, doesn’t play a wrong shot, doesn’t play a false stroke and scores hundreds at will. These two (Kohli and Sachin) are the best I have seen in the last 30-35 years,” Sourav Ganguly told India Today.

Speaking further on the same note, Sourav Ganguly noted that he is not someone who likes to compare players across two different eras. But then, one cannot deny the fact that the achievements of Virat Kohli are remarkable. Ganguly believes Kohli will break Sachin’s record of most tons. Interestingly, even Virender Sehwag backed Kohli to score 100 international tons.

“Very close to (being the greatest in one day cricket). I don’t compare eras but he and Sachin Tendulkar are two of the greatest. What he has done in the last few years is remarkable. He already has 35 hundreds and he’s just 30-years old. In another 7-8 years he might get past Sachin’s 49 hundreds. I don’t compare eras but these two are the best I have seen for a long, long time,” the former Indian captain mentioned.

Greatest across all formats?

Sourav Ganguly went on to quote that Virat Kohli is perhaps the greatest across all the three formats of the game. Ganguly feels Kohli is a cut above the rest, even Sachin Tendulkar, because of the way he has played as a captain. And commenting on Test cricket, Ganguly admitted that Kohli has fewer hundreds than Steve Smith. But at the very same time, he remarked that one cannot rule out the fact that Kohli has very impressive numbers in the ODIs and the T20Is. And in Test cricket, he is not bad either.

“Virat is the greatest at the moment across formats. Test cricket also he gets runs, he scored four back-to-back hundreds in Australia. He scores in India as well. He is no way inferior than anyone. He may have scored a few hundreds lesser than Steve Smith but look at his one day and T20 record, it’s much better than Steve Smith. He is the best batsman in the world at the moment and the biggest match-winner in the world at the moment,” Ganguly concluded.

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