Karachi: Pakistani great Mohammed Yousuf believes that Indian skipper Virat Kohli is still playing at his prime, and he will start getting hundreds soon.
Kohli, who has set the standards high in Indian cricket, considered one of the greatest match-winners in Indian cricket has not scored a century in the last two years in international cricket. Hard to swallow this fact but Kohli last scored a hundred in international cricket in November 2019.
Hailing Kohli for his achievements in world cricket already at the age of 32, Yousuf said brought into notice that Kohli’s 70 centuries in international cricket is an extreme achievement and is formidable. Kohli has scored 43 centuries in ODI and 27 centuries in tests so far.
“Kohli is only 32 and this is the age at which top batsmen hit prime and it is only a matter of time before he starts getting hundreds again,” Yousuf said in an interview.
“To achieve what he has already achieved is formidable and to me, scoring 70 Test and One-day International hundreds (by Kohli) is extreme,” Yousuf added.
The debate surrounding the comparison between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli is a never ending one. While he is all praise for captain Kohli he also feels that there is no comparison between them as Tendulkar belongs to different class altogether.
“He has done it no matter how much we praise him, it is less. But at same time I don’t think there is a comparison between him and Sachin. Tendulkar was a different class altogether. He scored 100 international hundreds and keep in mind the era he played in and the bowlers he played against,” said Yousuf, who has played 90 Tests and 288 ODIs.
The former Pakistan skipper who still holds the world record of scoring most Test runs (1788) in 2005/06 season felt that India still continued to produce technically better batsmen as compared to Pakistan.
“Their young batters have always had role models to follow from one era to another. That is why even today, they (India) are producing better batsmen. I was lucky that when I started playing I had players like Inzamam ul Haq and Saeed Anwar to look up to and was also coached by a great like Javed Miandad.”
Yousuf reckons that Pakistan cricket need to sit down and seriously think about the future and also focus on other formats apart from T20. “Or else, we will face more problems in batting in future. T20 is fun cricket and I see it as a blessing in disguise as it had immensely improved the financial status of our players. But at same time, I think you can even be successful in this format by sticking to the basics and intelligent cricket with less percentage of risky shots.” he concluded.
