Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar hail the beginning of Virat Kohli era

Former India openers Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar have hailed the start of the Kohli era in the Indian cricket. “Yes, I think that the Virat Kohli era has dawned over the last year or so. It’s been there ever since he took over the Test captaincy and because he is now going to create a completely different niche as far as Indian cricket is concerned.” said Gavaskar.

Virat Kohli has made heaps of runs in the since his debut for India and especially in the last few months, his meteoric rise as a batsman and captain has coincided with a great run for the Indian cricket as well. India has won a Test series against Sri Lanka after 22 years, won the T20I series against Australia in Australia and Sri Lanka and also won the Asia Cup T20 2016 recently.

India is currently the no.1 side in the T20 format and has entered the World T20 as the favorites to win the tournament. Kohli was instrumental in beating Pakistan in their World T20 encounter, making a brilliant 55* in a tough chase.

He has made 1470 runs in 41 T20I matches and has an average of 83 when India chases totals. To go with it, he has 2,994 Test runs in 41 matches and 7212 runs in 171 ODI matches.

Another former India opener, Virender Sehwag went ahead and said that Kohli is the new Tendulkar. “Yeah, absolutely because I said on-air that he’ll become the next Sachin Tendulkar of Indian team because when I was growing up I watched Tendulkar. Similarly Tendulkar watched Sunil Gavaskar. So everyone said that Kya Tujhe Sachin Banna Hai?….Kya tujhe Gavaskar Banna hai?..and now everyone will say that Kya tujhe Kohli Banna hai? … so he comes in that era now,” he said.

Both the batting greats were in awe of Kohli’s ability to steer the batting lineup during a chase and the maturity that has come to him in the last 2-3 years, as compared to his early years. “If you look at all the great players and look at their averages while chasing, it proves that Kohli is No. 1 in the world. He is hungry for runs and whenever he gets out cheaply, he gets upset, throws his bat in the dressing room. It shows that he wants to contribute and wants to win matches for India,” Sehwag said.

Gavaskar also said that Kohli is right with Sehwag if you compare their batting when both were in form and on a song. He says that when Kohli hangs up his gloves and says goodbye, it is certain that his average and the no. of runs made by him will put him with the best of the best in the game.

He also applauded Kohli’s ability to adapt to different situations and the way he adjusts himself technically according to the opposition, the conditions and the pitch is very admirable.