Ravi Shastri likens Virat Kohli’s fierce competitiveness to Imran Khan
BCCI
Ravi Shastri has compared Virat Kohli’s aggressive attitude to former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan, stating that the ambition to dominate irrespective of the conditions makes Kohli a brilliant cricketer. He also termed Kohli’s brilliant outing in South Africa as an 'unbelievable achievement'.
Indisputably, Imran Khan has been the greatest cricketer that Pakistan cricket has ever produced and without a shade of doubt, he was world's second-best allrounder after Sir Garry Sobers of his time. However, more than his cricketing credentials, he single-handedly transformed Pakistan cricket with a fire in the belly and that culminated with a victory in the 1992 World Cup, which has been a part of cricketing lore as Imran’s greatest legacy.
Like him, Kohli, arguably the sport’s current unique selling proposition, has carried the typical Delhi demeanour to his game and with a strong zeal to end up at the winning side, he led the India side with a lot of passion. And Shastri, an unabashed admirer of Kohli’s aggression, has compared the two widely admired players of two different countries and two different generations.
"It's still early days for Virat. He is still very very young. But he is already there among the very best. He wants to lead by example. He reminds me a lot of Imran. He is still very young but he has got a lot of qualities that Imran had when it came to leading a side. Which is great," Shastri told Anandabazar Patrika.
"Just the ability to always want to dominate, want to compete, irrespective of whatever conditions you get, believe that you can do it and when you have that kind of quality it spreads among the other players as well. And that was very similar to the way Imran led."
Kohli defied logic and racked up three centuries and one fifty to finish the ODI series against South Africa with 558 runs. He almost single-handedly performed for the entire batting line-up to leave South Africa of thinking what could have been. After watching the series from a yard’s distance, the Indian coach couldn’t help but sing words of praise for Kohli.
"I think he was fantastic on the last trip. It was a tough trip," Shastri said on Kohli's leadership and performance in South Africa.
"When you are the leading batsman in the side plus the captain, plus the conditions you get, plus the side that you are playing which is formidable, you need to be on top of your game.
"Mentally and physically. And he did just that. For someone to score 870-plus score on a single tour in two months, is an unbelievable achievement. Really unbelievable achievement," said Shastri.
Although Kohli has been the ultimate patriot in the heart and hates losing to the core, the very problem is, sometimes, he doesn’t care about the plain facts and let the emotions get the better of him, which led many former cricketers to advise him to tone down a bit. However, Shastri lashed out at them, saying they should allow his captain to go about their business.
"My only advice to them is to mind their own business. I will keep it very simple. Whoever is saying that, mind your own business. Let us get on with our job.
"I think he is absolutely fine. If there was a problem, the umpires are there. The match-referee is there to sort it out. What are they there for? He is hardly been called by the match-referee for going over the top in his career. So where is the problem?"
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