Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, both hailing from Delhi, have a complex relationship that combines elements of both fondness and tension. The situation took a positive turn when Gambhir, in a friendly gesture, handed over his Player of the Match award to the young Kohli.
This happened after Kohli secured his first international century in an ODI against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2009. Throughout the years, Gambhir and Kohli have increasingly gained attention due to their conflicts with each other.
They engaged in a heated altercation during the IPL 2013 season in a game between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Gambhir always says that their competition is only about cricket and not personal. In a recent video, he jokingly talked about Kohli, making it clear that their rivalry stays on the field, all with a smile.
The ex-Indian opener has consistently expressed admiration for his 2011 World Cup-winning teammate. Here are Gambhir’s three notable compliments for Kohli:
#3 Gautam Gambhir praised Virat Kohli as a great teacher for young players
Gambhir praised Kohli’s vital innings of 85 runs in 116 balls during India’s 2023 World Cup opener against Australia in Chennai. Despite a challenging start with India at 3/2, Kohli, alongside KL Rahul (97* off 115), led the team to victory with a 165-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Commending Kohli’s resilient performance, Gambhir emphasized that young players can gain valuable insights from how Kohli handles pressure.
“Imagine when you’re 2 or 3 down for two. You can’t go out there and hit a long ball. You will still need to be able to absorb the pressure and try and rotate those strikes.”
”And I’m sure these young cricketers coming through will learn from Virat Kohli. That is very important and that is why he’s so consistent,” he said on Star Sports.
“And I’m sure I think a lot of these young cricketers in the dressing room will learn the importance of fitness, the importance of running between the wicket and the importance of how to rotate strike in the middle as well.”
”Because with this new format with T20 cricket, a lot of these new guys want to keep hitting the ball out of the ground,” Gambhir added.
Kohli hit six boundaries before Hazlewood dismissed him. India secured a six-wicket victory, achieving the target in 41.2 overs.
#2 “No one finishes better than Virat Kohli”- Gautam Gambhir
Following Kohli’s pivotal role in India’s win against New Zealand in the World Cup 2023 league match in Dharamsala, Gambhir labeled him the finest finisher. He not only praised the Indian batsman but also raised a question about why the finisher label is typically assigned to players batting at numbers 5, 6, and 7.
“I have never understood why the finisher’s tag is given only to Nos. 5 to 7. An opener can also be a finisher. A No. 11 can also be a finisher. This has just been created by the media. There was probably no finisher 10 years ago.”
“There can’t be a better finisher than Virat Kohli because of the number of games he has won. So don’t call only the Nos. 5, 6 and 7 as finishers. Whoever scores the last run is a finisher,” the 42-year-old told Star Sports.
India had to chase 274 in the league match against New Zealand. Kohli, once more, steered the chase with a score of 95 from 104 balls, including eight fours and two sixes. The Men in Blue successfully achieved the target in 48 overs with four wickets remaining.
#1 He has delivered consistent performances in India, Australia, and South Africa
Earlier this year, Kohli joined the elite group of batters who surpassed the 25,000-run milestone in international cricket. He accomplished this during the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Delhi in February while scoring 20 runs off 31 balls.
When questioned about Kohli’s significant milestone of reaching 25,000 international runs, Gambhir expressed his opinion:
“I am not aware of the other players on the list, but Virat Kohli’s biggest specialty is that his performances have been the same in India and Australia, and in South Africa as well.”
“That list might have an Australian batter or some other batter, you have to do the comparison based on their record in their country and also in the subcontinent. So that is the biggest speciality and also how quickly he has scored those runs.”
Kohli has gathered a total of 26,532 international runs in 518 matches, maintaining an average of 54.36, including 80 centuries and 138 half-centuries.
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