Kohli will be up there with Sachin if he continues his prolific form, says Graeme Pollock
South Africa legend Graeme Pollock believes that Virat Kohli’s stature could be up there with Sachin Tendulkar if he continues his brilliant and consistent form. However, the 73-year-old also feels that Kohli is still young as a captain and has mostly followed the basic cricketing patterns in games.
Every century Kohli has scored and every milestone he has attained has brought him against Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar in comparison. However, there is still a major chunk of the critics that believe Tendulkar’s greatness cannot be reduced to just figures and statistics. And Pollock was the latest to join the bandwagon.
Widely regarded as South Africa’s greatest cricketer, Pollock has played 23 Tests, scoring 2256 runs at an average of 60.97, and feels that Kohli has the potential to stand the same podium as Tendulkar someday if he continues his form.
“It’s hard to compare anybody with Sachin. He’s still got a little way to go but I think he’s moving in the right direction. In a few years, if he continues his prolific form, he’ll certainly be right up there with Sachin… Sachin was difficult to bowl to. He was an
Pollock also stated that batting is not just about surviving in the middle of a bowling onslaught and not getting out, but it is about putting the bowlers under pressure that makes a good batsman.
“People don’t realize how the game changes when batsmen put pressure on bowlers. It changes dramatically. This is the major reason why AB de Villiers is such a big contributor. When you’re watching and AB comes out, you think the guys are starting to bowl badly,” said Pollock.
“It’s not them bowling badly, it’s because AB’s putting them under pressure. They think they can’t bowl a bad ball because he’s going to hit them for four. They tend to put it there rather than bowling it, and the bowling starts to deteriorate. And everybody cashes in,” Pollock added.
However, despite being all praise for Kohli as a batsman, Pollock seems to think that as a skipper the Delhi batsman is still nascent and has followed the basic cricketing rules of success so far.
“It’s young days for him as a captain. The game follows basic rules. On a green wicket, seamers do the job and you’ve got to have your guys catching. The game follows a pattern and he’s following that, and I don’t think he can do anything else but that,” said Pollock.