Virat Kohli Relishing The Responsibility Of Captaincy: Sunil Gavaskar

Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar on Monday heaped high praise on Virat Kohli and said that the Indian skipper has become a better player after getting the captaincy. In a chat with NDTV, Gavaskar was asked if captaincy has made Kohli a better batsman, to which the former replied, "It can happen and it does happen to a lot of players that captaincy actually makes them better players. Some players under the pressure of captaincy can go down in their performances but Virat actually is relishing the responsibility," he said.

"He is wanting to do well for his team and he is taking the team along with him. Because there is a common goal and they (Indian team) are trying to be the best team in the world, it's his (Kohli) responsibility to score a 100 and put a price tag on his wicket," he added.

Kohli smashed a brilliant hundred against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to become the second-highest century-maker in One-day International cricket. With his 31st ODI ton, he went past Ricky Ponting and is now just behind Sachin Tendulkar, who has 49 ODI centuries.

The 28-year-old is known for run chases and has time and again taken the responsibility of chasing a big target. He has scored 19 hundreds out of his 31 in ODIs while chasing and 12 batting first.

Asked to analyse about the way Kohli prepares himself for different situations, Gavaskar said, "In the first innings, he takes a time to get going and takes a little time to assess the situation. On the other hand when it comes to chasing, he attacks right from the start and once he gets going it's very difficult to stop him and that's why India are very good in run-chases now."

Kohli also is on top of the list in terms of runs scored after 200 ODI appearances. The Indian skipper has 8888 runs with an average of 55.55. South African AB de Villiers is second on the list, with 8621 runs (24 hundreds) with an average of 54.56.

Third on the list is former India captain Sourav Ganguly. He had 7447 runs after 200 ODI matches with an average of 43.03 including 18 tons.