Virat Kohli's very very special innings

He may be a spiky individual who at times should control his emotions better, but there is no doubting Virat Kohli's brilliance with a cricket bat in his hands.

It is easy to forget sometimes that he is just 23, but yesterday's stupendous innings was the ninth ODI hundred of Kohli's short career - the same number as Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Smith.

His 133 off just 86 balls must rank as one of the best ODI hundreds of all time. Not just because it led India to an unlikely win and bonus point, nor because of the phenomenal strike rate of 154.65 and the way he dismantled the formidable Lasith Malinga.

All of these were impressive enough, but it was the style in which Kohli made his runs that stood out - some of his drives through the covers were as mouth watering as Scarlett Johansson in a negligee. His acceleration was better than an Aston Martin DB9: his first 50 runs came off 44 balls, his second off 32 and his last 33 runs came from just 10 balls.   

We've long believed that Kohli is by far the best of India's new generation of batsmen and yesterday's masterpiece confirmed him as the heir apparent to Sachin Tendulkar with a touch of the majesty of VVS Laxman's strokemaking. It also confirmed that Kohli is the best young batsman in world cricket today.

There have been many great ODI innings: Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and MS Dhoni in the World Cup finals of 1979, 2003, 2007 and 2011 plus King Viv's monumental 189 against England at Old Trafford in 1984 to name just five; and Kohli has now joined them in the pantheon.

Where next?

Virat Kohli points the way forward for India

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Comments

[Arun]

There have been many great ODI innings: Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and MS Dhoni in the World Cup finals of 1979, 2003, 2007 and 2011 plus King Viv's monumental 189 against England at Old Trafford in 1984 to name just five; and Kohli has now joined them in the pantheon.
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Did you forget Sachin's Sharja innings?

[The Reverse Sweep]

Thanks Arun. I just named the first innings that came into mind. I haven't actually seen Sachin's effort in Sharjah to which you refer - there are so many one day internationals after all!