Brian Lara Says In Virat Kohli Cricket Has A Leader

Team India skipper Virat Kohli has given plenty of reasons for the cricket fraternity to hail him as one of the best cricketers of the current generation. In the recently concluded ODI series against the Windies, Virat Kohli became the fastest batsman to score 10,000 runs surpassing Sachin Tendulkar -- adding yet another feather to his cap. Former cricket greats Vivian Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have all lauded the 29-year-old Virat Kohli for his prolific show with the bat with Brain Lara the latest to praise the Indian run-machine.

Apart from his on field achievements, Virat Kohli has also kept strict measures to maintain his fitness, which was also appreciated by Lara.

"Whatever Kohli is doing today is phenomenal. The rate of scoring, his fitness, and the importance he gives to a lot of different things. It is great to see that the game has a leader at this moment," Lara told PTI during an interaction on Saturday.

In Bengaluru to participate in the fourth edition of Krishnapatnam Port Golden Eagles Golf Championship, Lara refused to comment on the Kohli-Sachin Tendulkar "who is better" debate.

Lara spoke about how and Tendulkar never bothered about comparisons.

"If you talk about Sachin and me - you read a lot about it and you hear about the comparisons and it was not a significant thing (for us)," Lara said.

"I am sure Kohli also does not pay much attention to these things. I think everyone gets it wrong. Everyone grows up in a different era and you have to appreciate what anyone brings to the table," he added.

Lara feels that nobody should sit in judgment to declare whether Viv Richards was better than Sir Garfield Sobers or Tendulkar was superior compared to Ricky Ponting as all these players brought different styles to the game.

"In my era, you had (Rahul) Dravid, (Sachin)Tendulkar, (Jacques) Kallis, myself and Ricky Ponting - all of us brought something different to the table. How can any of us sit down here and say that somebody is better than Viv Richards, or Sir Garfield Sobers, or any of those great players?" he asked.

"We just appreciate the career they have had and move on." During his playing days, Sachin Tendulkar was engaged in some fierce duel with a quality West Indies side of the 90's but the steady decline of the Caribbean teams over the years, has disappointed his "friend", said Lara. "I paid a surprise visit to Sachin's house.

"We not only spoke about golf, but also a lot on cricket. We spoke about the great fast bowlers like Curtly Ambrose."

(WIth PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Virat Kohli Cricket