Former India batter Aakash Chopra has heaped praise on superstar batter Virat Kohli, saying he wins matches for his country and has made an entire generation fit. India is all set to take on England in a five-match Test series.
England’s tour of India: Full coverage
Kohli has been named in the 16-member squad set to face England in the first two matches of their five-Test series. The first match will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on January 25.
Speaking on his Youtube channel, Chopra said Kohli has had a massive impact on the game, winning matches for India and getting an entire generation fit. Kohli recently made his T20I comeback for India, playing the shortest format of the game on the international level after a gap of 14 months.
“If you have to judge a player’s greatness, there are three or four parameters. One in longevity. He is 35 and it seems like he can play for four more years. Then you see his impact on the game. He wins matches and has made an entire generation fit. He has had a massive impact,” said Chopra.
He went on to say that Kohli has been dominant across formats, insisting that his numbers don’t lie. Kohli has amassed 26,733 runs in 522 international matches across formats, averaging 54.11 while hitting 80 hundreds and 139 half-centuries.
“Another important aspect is how you adapt across three formats – he does that. Then, of course, the sheer records, the numbers. The numbers don’t lie about him – 50 ODI centuries, four double centuries in a year in Tests, nearly 1000 runs in an IPL season,” Chopra added.
India’s squad for first two Tests vs England
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan.
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