Cricket, with a target audience of over 2.5 billion fans, is the second most popular sport in the world.
To some cricket is mere a sport, but to some others, it is a religion.
The sport has been graced by many great cricketers through the ages. And many names have been etched forever in history, deemed as legends. Every decade is essentially dominated by an outstanding cricketer, and this decade is not going to be any different.
As we begin another year of entertaining cricket, we carry forward a dilemma from the past year, wondering if this one cricketer is truly the new hero in the world of cricket. The person in question, Virat Kohli.
The period between the start of 2015 and the end of 2016 has been a fantastic phase for the 28-year-old batsman from Delhi. Kohli’s performances have been phenomenal in this phase. He has excelled in all three formats of the game, Tests, ODIs, and T20s.
Virat Kohli is a source of inspiration to many for his dedication towards the level of personal fitness and sheer determination to outperform in every game. Given his consistency in scoring runs and match-winning knocks, Kohli has been compared to the likes of Sir Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and even Sir Donald Bradman. Closer home, he is being compared to Sachin Tendulkar.
In the current scenario, however, Virat Kohli can be compared to the likes of Steve Smith (Australia), Joe Root (England), Kane Williamson (New Zealand) and AB de Villiers (South Africa). All of these batsmen have phenomenal batting averages & have played well across all formats.
The following are ICC rankings for the Best Batsman in all three formats, featuring Virat Kohli.
As of 31st December 2016, Kohli occupies the 2nd position, behind Steve Smith in the rankings in the ‘Test cricket’ format.
As of 1st January 2017, AB de Villiers dominates the rankings in the ‘One Day Internationals’ format, followed by Kohli in the second place.
And as of 20th December 2016, Kohli ranks first in the rankings in the ‘Twenty 20’ format.
Of course, statistics often distort the idea of one’s significance in the team and to the game. Also, any direct comparisons between Virat Kohli and his counterparts from the yesteryear's are ideally wrong, given that they've played in different eras and different format of the game.
It is also interesting to note that Kohli has never been awarded the ‘ICC Cricketer Of The Year’, yet. Having said that, it is beyond any doubts that the feats achieved by him are heroic. But whether Virat Kohli is the new hero in the world of cricket, can still be debated.
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