Former Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis has lauded Virat Kohli after the talisman scored his 47th ODI century against Pakistan in the Super Fours stage match of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Monday.
Younis, well known for his reverse swing during his heydays, has tipped Kohli to end up with a lot more centuries than anybody can ever imagine. This was Kohli’s 77th International century as he continued his love affair with R. Premadasa Stadium.
Kohli took a bit of time in the initial phase and built up his innings in a typical fashion. The linchpin accelerated towards the end and scored 122 runs off just 94 balls with the help of nine fours and three sixes.
Kohli added an unbeaten alliance of 233 runs with KL Rahul, who scored 111 runs and the duo helped India post a massive score of 356 runs on the board.
Kohli is now only two centuries away from leveling Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 centuries in the ODI format. The talisman also became the fastest batter to reach the milestone of 13000 runs, getting there in 267 innings and thus bettered Sachin Tendulkar’s record (321 innings).
“The difference between him and other players, even Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar, when he finished, had 49 hundreds (ODIs). I can promise you Virat is a long way from finishing his career or being done with cricket. He will end up with a lot more (hundreds) than anybody can think,” said Younis on Star Sports.
Waqar Younis also lauded Virat Kohli’s fitness. Kohli is well known to run hard between the wickets to convert the ones into twos and Younis felt sorry for KL Rahul as the latter had to run with his former skipper.
“I felt sorry for KL Rahul because he was coming out of injury and he had to run with this man. He runs like a crazy man. Doesn’t miss a single, doesn’t miss any extra run because he wants to be the best. He wants to be the best in anything he does, batting, fielding or running between the wickets. And what he loves about himself is his work on fitness.”
India will next take on Sri Lanka at the same venue on Tuesday.
