New Delhi: Indian batsman Virat Kohli climbed to a career-best second place in the Test rankings on Tuesday after his third double century of the year helped the hosts seal a series victory over England.
Kohli, who is in the form of his life, jumped a place in the Test standings and is in line to top the rankings in all three forms of the game.
Kohli, who is currently ranked second in ODIs and tops the Twenty20 chart, is just 11 points behind Australia captain Steve Smith in the International Cricket Council Test ratings.
Dubbed ‘King Kohli’ by the media, the Indian skipper had former greats batting for him and panning James Anderson, the England seamer, for his remarks questioning his technique on overseas wickets.
Anderson triggered a controversy by saying Kohli had made a mountain of runs in Indian conditions, which according to the England pace spearhead, “take any flaws out of the equation.”
When asked for his take on the subject, World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev said Kohli can and will score runs in all countries including England, where he endured a tough tour two years ago.
“Virat can very well play in all conditions. He is simply playing fabulous cricket. It is great to see an Indian play like this. I have never seen a cricketer like him,” said Kapil at an event in the capital.
In a lighter vein, Kapil went on to say that Kohli can even score runs with his sunglasses on, considering he is in the form of his life.
Kapil said: “All I would say is look at Virat’s record. That speaks for itself. The records show that he is the best at the moment.”
Pakistan chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq also criticised Anderson for his uncharitable comments about Virat Kohli’s technique, saying that the England pacer should first take wickets in India before questioning the Indian skipper’s capabilities.
“It is surprising to me that Anderson should question Kohli’s runs and ability because I haven’t seen him take too many wickets in India,” Inzamam said.
“Does Anderson mean to say that if you get runs in England you get some sort of certificate that makes you a quality batsman? Don’t the English and Australian players struggle when they play in the subcontinent? Does that mean they are bad players or weak teams? To me it does not matter where you get runs because, in Test matches, runs are runs,” the former Pakistan skipper added.
Inzamam, who played against some of the finest batsmen India has produced, rated Kohli highly. “I always judge a batsman by seeing how many times the runs he scores leads to his team winning matches. In my opinion, if a batsman scores 80 and it helps his team win, it matters more to me than someone scoring 150 and his team still losing.
“Kohli is a quality player and, when he is getting runs, his team does well. That is important to judge or classify a batsman’s value. There is hunger in him for runs,” he said.
The veteran of 120 Tests lamented that Asians have a habit of questioning their own teams and players while England and Australia always back their cricketers.
“If they don’t do well there, we start questioning the ability of our teams and players ourselves. We must not forget Australia lost 3-0 in Sri Lanka, we beat England 3-0 in the past in the UAE,” he reiterated.
