Hyderabad: Former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth said that current skipper Virat Kohli can be compared to Kapil Dev. Srikkanth was part of the squad that Kapil led to victory in the 1983 World Cup and feels that Kohli's self-believe is reminiscent of the former all-rounder.
"I played with Kapil Dev and played under him. I can compare Virat Kohli with Kapil Dev. I see a tremendous amount of self-belief in him," Srikkanth said on a chat show where he was chatting with former India batsman V.V.S. Laxman and former England skipper Nasser Hussain.
Laxman said that he was afraid that Kohli's famous intensity might burn out in time but that has shown little signs of happening.
"The one thing I admire about Virat Kohli is his intensity. One thing I was worried about was whether he will burn out quickly. But not even one session or one over he lets his intensity drop and that is really commendable," Laxman told in the same chat show.
Meanwhile, former England skipper Nasser Hussain said that he had been told by England coach Duncan Fletcher, who helmed the coaching setup for India from April 2011 to the end of the 2015 World Cup, about current captain Virat Kohli's potential.
"I was speaking to Duncan Fletcher about him and he said 'watch out for this lad. He has a real fight and character in him'," Hussain said in the same chat show.
By the end of Fletcher's tenure, Kohli had already become the permanent captain of the Indian Test team. In 2017, he took over from M.S. Dhoni in all formats of the game and has stayed in the position since. India have enjoyed a prolonged run at the top of the Test rankings under Kohli. "He is not worried about stats. The only stats he is worried about is the win/loss column," said Hussain.
Kohli is constantly rated as the best batsman in the world due to his ability to change games regardless of the format. He averages above 50 in all forms of international cricket. In Tests, he has scored 7240 runs at an average of 53.62 and in ODIs, he has scored 11,867 runs at an average of nearly 60.
