Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has showered praise on Virat Kohli after India lifted their second T20 World Cup title by beating South Africa by seven runs in the final at Barbados on Saturday. Kohli could not deliver the goods in the seven matches of the tournament as he could only manage 75 runs however he was able to bring his best in the all-important final.
The talisman scored a match-winning knock of 76 runs off 59 balls against the Proteas to help his team post 176 runs on the board. Thus, he was awarded Player of the Match for his fine knock.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli scored 4188 runs in 125 T20I matches at an average of 48.7 and a strike rate of 137.04 and he has been a consistent performer in all three formats.
After winning his first T20 World Cup title, Kohli also decided to retire from T20Is.
“What’s the legacy he is leaving behind? He is leaving a lot. As you keep moving forward, very few players will play all three formats in this fashion and boss all of them. So Virat Kohli will definitely be missed. Legacy is unparalleled and unmatched,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra highlighted that Kohli redefined T20Is with his consistent performances as he batted at his absolute best.
“Virat Kohli redefined T20 cricket. Some players are once-in-a-generation, once-in-a-lifetime, and that’s Virat Kohli. He has changed our understanding matrix because T20 changed everyone’s matrix and he changed T20’s matrix,” Chopra observed.
“We had kept 30s and 50s as milestones, no one used to keep 50s and 100s. However, he said 50s and 100s should be kept because he scores centuries as well, and plenty of them, although he has only one century in T20Is, which came against Afghanistan. He is that kind of a player,” he added.
Chopra noted that Kohli lived up to every parameter, scoring his runs at an impressive average and strike rate.
“It’s said it’s a game of players who hit sixes easily, that players who bludgeon the ball become superstars. He said you can see the runs, average or strike rate. This player has lived up to every parameter,” he explained (6:40).
Kohli was once again able to prove his mettle in a big match as he scored a crucial knock of 76 runs. The renowned commentator recalled some of Kohli’s masterpiece knocks in T20Is in big events.
“The one thing that makes him most special is cometh the hour, cometh the man. The bigger the stage, the more he elevates his game. I remember the Australia game in Mohali, the semi-final against the West Indies, the 2014 final where he stood at one end, didn’t get the strike or else he would have won that as well, and this match (2024 final) where India were 30/3,” Chopra elaborated.
Kohli will look to continue the good show in ODIs and Test cricket.
