Former Pakistan gun fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has rated Virat Kohli as the greatest cricketer of all time and wants him to score a total of 110 International centuries.
Kohli has scored a total of 70 hundred in his glorious career. In fact, the talisman scored his last International century back in 2019 in the pink-ball Test match against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Since then, Kohli has failed to get to the three-digit mark in all three formats of the game. Kohli hasn’t been at his absolute best in the recent past and also had sub-par IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Virat Kohli had a disappointing season for RCB as he scored 341 runs from his 16 appearances at an average of 22.73. Furthermore, his strike rate was below par as he scored his runs at 115.99.
“Before passing statements, people should understand that small kids look up to them. Say good things about Virat Kohli. Give him the respect he deserves. As a Pakistani, I am saying that he is the greatest player of all time. I want him to score 110 centuries in international cricket. I want him to play till the age of 45,” Akhtar was quoted as saying to Sportskeeda.
As there are always huge expectations on Virat Kohli, he is always under scrutiny. Kohli is always criticized heavily if he fails to live up to expectations.
“This tough situation is preparing you for 110 centuries. People are writing you off, tweeting against you. If you tweet about Diwali, you are criticized. People tweet about your wife and kid. When you lose the World Cup, you are heavily criticized. Things cannot get any worse. Just go out there, and show everyone who Virat Kohli is,” he added.
Furthermore, Kohli also came under the scanner for not scoring his runs at a high strike rate and thus he had put pressure on his teammates.
Kohli will now be in action in the one-off Test match against England and he will look to deliver the goods for the team in the all-important game. The talisman has been rested for the five-match T20I series against South Africa, which will begin on June 9 in Delhi.
