Virat Kohli’s development as a batsman impresses Mahela Jayawardene

Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene has praised the rise of Virat Kohli as a batsman. Jayawardene said that he liked the way Kohli has made his game risk free and matured brilliantly. Kohli has made 102 runs in 3 matches so far in the World T20 2016 for India, including a match-winning performance against Pakistan in a crunch match.

“Virat is the star player right now. I am really impressed by how he has developed. He is batting with a lot of maturity. He does not get rattled by the situation and has that special ability to switch gears. He tries to bat through and does not take great risk. But, at the same time, he is positive and hungry for run-scoring. I think he now really understands his game and knows how to score runs at the highest level. The manner in which he controlled the run-chase against Pakistan was quite brilliant,” said Jayawardene in his column for a leading sports magazine.

Virat has been one of the best batsmen over the period of last 18 months in every format of the game. Jayawardene also considered India the favorites for the title, though he thinks there are many other teams that India needs to beat before it truly wins the crown of World T20 2016.

According to Jayawardene, India came into the tournament as the red hot favorites to win the title. They have the best batting lineup in the world today that has brilliant T20 experience thanks to the IPL. In bowling, they have the experience of a returning Ashish Nehra, who is backed up by some really good pacers.

But according to Jayawardene, there are 8 other good teams who can give India a good fight and he said that the match against New Zealand was an example of that. “T20 is also inherently unpredictable and no team can hold the favourites tag with any sense of comfort.” Jayawardene added.

He knows the pressure one has to handle when one is leading the team at home in a tournament like World T20 2016. Jayawardene was the captain of Sri Lanka team in the World T20 2012, where they reached the finals of the tournament only to be beaten by the West Indies.

He gave some advice to the Indian team saying, “My advice to them is for each individual player to work out a way of shutting out all the distractions. It is not always easy, especially in India where passions run so high and there are few places to escape, but you must find a way. By removing yourself from the emotions you can allow yourself to be 100% focused on the game and what you do. When your mind is distracted you are most vulnerable to nerves and other negative thought processes.”

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