Virat Kohli has often been compared to several batting greats. His comparison to Sachin Tendulkar is often brought up due to the number of centuries both have in international cricket. Sunil Gavaskar recently compared the batting style of the Indian skipper with a former legend Viv Richards. Gavaskar believes that Kohli shares several qualities with a batsman who was second to none in his era.
The batsman that Gavaskar compared Kohli with is none other than Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards. The West Indian who was way ahead of his time that intimidated every bowling attack in the world. Time and time again Richards made a mockery out of the best bowlers of his era.
Kohli bats a lot like Richards – Gavaskar
Gavaskar who played a lot of cricket against Richards stated that Virat Kohli bats very similar to him. Both Richards and Kohli are two of the very few batsmen that use their bottom hand to flick deliveries from outside off stump. Much like Richards, the Indian captain too also scores heavily through the extra covers region when he plays his trademark cover drive. Gavaskar rated Virat Kohli as the number 1 batsman in the world as he reminds him of Richards.
“It was very difficult to keep Viv Richards quiet when he was at the crease. Similarly, if you look at Virat Kohli’s batting today, in the same ball and same line, he will use his top hand and score a boundary towards the extra cover region and will use the bottom hand and score a boundary towards the mid-on and mid-wicket region”.
“That’s why Virat Kohli is considered as the No. 1 player because he bats exactly like Viv Richards. Earlier, Gundappa Vishwanath, VVS Laxman used to bat like this”, Gavaskar said on Star Sports’ show ‘Winning the Cup – 1983.
Gavaskar is not the only one that has compared Kohli and Richards in recent times. Former Aussie captain Ian Chappell last month also said that both Richards and Kohli are almost the same in the way they bat. The kind of shots both have in their arsenal are pretty much same who even while playing normal cricket shots have the ability to score very rapidly.
“He said he didn’t want those to creep in his batting in the longer form of the game. The best short-form player in the time I played was Viv Richards, and he just played normal cricket shots but he placed the ball so well he was able to score at a very fast rate. And Kohli’s the same. He plays traditional cricket shots, and he plays them really well,” Chappell had said on the RK Show.
