It is understandable that Virender Sehwag has been getting all the plaudits following his wonderful 175 in the opening match of the World Cup yesterday. As a statement of intent, that was what we at The Reverse Sweep would call starting the tournament with a bang.
But Virat Kohli was equally impressive in scoring exactly 100 from 83 balls - not that you would have thought so with all the headlines focusing on Sehwag.
Kohli is only 22 and yet to play Test cricket, but he is making a real name for himself in the ODI format. He is ranked 2nd in the World in the 50 over game - behind only Hashim Amla, who reached batting god-like status long ago. There were whispers a while back that Kohli was a bit full of himself - hardly surprising given the riches that young Indian cricketers have access to now with the IPL. But if that was the case, Kohli is certainly letting his batting do the talking now.
Kohli averages 49 from 46 ODIs with five hundreds and 12 fifties, and one only has to watch him for a short time at the crease to see his exceptional talent. Indeed, we rate him the best of the new breed of Indian batsmen- better than the also impressive Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara and leagues above the over-hyped Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma.
To think that there was some debate before the tournament, that Kohli may miss out to Raina for a place in India's XI. That would have been foolish and MS Dhoni is no fool and would likely have insisted on Kohli's inclusion.
It can be only a matter of time before Kohli is exhibiting his brilliance in the five-day game and he is certainly likely to justify his place in our XI of players to watch in the new decade, which we included Kohli in back in January 2010. We also picked him in our XI to shine in the World Cup. Not that we are claiming to be prophetic, you understand!
Where next?
An XI of players likely to bid a fond farewell to ODI after the World Cup
World Cup Team previews: Part 1 - India: Glory or effigies?
World Cup Team Previews: Part 2 - South Africa: Don't mention the 'C' word...
World Cup Team Previews: Part 3 - Bangladesh: Shock & Awe
World Cup Team Previews: Part 4 - West Indies: Calypso or Collapso?
World Cup Team Previews: Part 5 - England: How far can resilience take them?
World Cup Team Previews: Part 6 - Ireland/Canada/Kenya/Netherlands: Last chance for the minnows?
World Cup Team Previews: Part 7 - Zimbabwe - An army of spin
World Cup Team Previews: Part 8 - Australia: Four in a row?
World Cup Team Previews: Part 9 - Pakistan: Tigers or Pussies?
World Cup Team previews: Part 10 - Sri Lanka: Will lightning strike twice?
Yep, he's holding the middle order together in my opinion. I wrote a piece on his innings too.
Posted by: Rishabh | Monday, February 21, 2011 at 07:12