Virat Kohli stood out with his 73rd international century as India defeated Sri Lanka in the first ODI in Guwahati on Tuesday. Kohli, who survived two dropped catches on 52 and 81, hammered 113 off 87 balls to drive India to 373-7 after they were invited to bat first. It was Kohli's 45the century in ODI cricket, and is now only four such knocks away from equalling Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI tons. After his match-winning knock, Kohli has been on the receiving end of some huge praise from the cricketing fraternity.
Now, former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal has hailed Kohli, saying that players nowadays can't even think of scoring 45 tons across formats, let alone in one format.
"Nowadays, players can't even imagine of scoring of 45 centuries across formats, but Virat Kohli has scored as many in a single format. He has scored 73 international tons so far. He definitely got chances, but he made the most of those chances. ," Akmal said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Akmal then went on to explain why Kohli is such an important player for India, especially in global and continental tournaments.
"He had scored a century on this venue two-three years back and now he has rediscovered his form by scoring another hundred. He performed in the World Cup and the Asia Cup. The runs haven't dried up, which tells how important a player he is for India," added Akmal.
Kohli has now hit two successive ODI hundreds since coming out of an extended lean patch last year when he spoke about his mental struggles during the phase.