Virat Kohli reminds me of Sir Viv Richards’ batting, insists Sunil Gavaskar
Indian team with Sir Viv Richards in Antigua
|BCCI
Sunil Gavaskar has stated that Virat Kohli is the No.1 player in the world and has an uncanny similarity with the yesteryear great Sir Vivian Richards. The Little Master has further attested that among the former players Gundappa Vishwanath and VVS Laxman used to bat like the Caribbean great.
A brilliant player on the front foot, Viv Richards swaggered his way to cricketing greatness with a calculated menace and it was not until an eyesight problem that slowed the burning desire to score runs effervescently. 29 years after he played his last international game, Richards still remains one of the finest cricketers to have ever graced the field and Gavaskar, a totally awed contemporary to the Caribbean superstar, found an uncanny similarity in Virat Kohli’s approach.
"It was very difficult to keep Viv Richards quiet when he was at the crease. Similarly, if you look at Virat Kohli's batting today, in the same ball and same line, he will use his top hand and score a boundary towards the extra cover region and will use the bottom hand and score a boundary towards the mid-on and mid-wicket region," Gavaskar said on Star Sports' show 'Winning the Cup -- 1983'.
"That's why Virat Kohli is considered as the No. 1 player because he bats exactly like Viv Richards. Earlier, Gundappa Vishwanath, VVS Laxman used to bat like this," he added.
As a matter of fact, Kohli has always spoken about his admiration for the former West Indies skipper with the Indian skipper interviewing Richards last year during India’s tour of West Indies.Â
"I always felt I was good enough to be competing and I wanted to express myself in the best way that I can. I see that little similarity in you and that same passion in you. There are times when folks would look at us and say, 'Wow why are they so angry'," Richards told Kohli in the video uploaded on BCCI Twitter handle on August 22, 2019.
