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Virat Kohli has been widely regarded as one of the greatest batters in the history of cricket. The 34-year-old has been an institution in the Indian batting lineup for the last 15 years, dominating bowling attacks all over the world, irrespective of the format.
The accolades for Virat Kohli as a batter speak for itself, scoring over 25,000 runs in just over 500 matches with 76 centuries in international cricket. The ODI format has been the most fruitful for him in his career, where he has amassed 12,898 runs in 275 matches, at an average of 57.32 and strike-rate of 93.62 with 46 centuries.
In the longest format of the game, Test cricket, Virat Kohli has played in 111 matches for India, putting together 8676 runs at an average of 49.29 with 29 centuries. While in T20I cricket, he has participated in 115 matches, totaling with 4008 runs at a strike-rate of 137.96, with a century.
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As a franchise cricketer, in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Virat Kohli has been an integral part of Royal Challengers Bangalore since 2008, scoring 7263 runs in 237 T20 matches at a strike-rate of 130.02 with seven centuries. Even when the 34-year-old is yet to taste championship success in the IPL, he has won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011, ICC Champions Trophy in 2013, and the ICC Test Championship mace multiple times with Team India.
While captaining the Indian cricket team, he created a legacy of his own, inculcating the culture of supreme fitness in the players, to help bring a renewed focus on the fast bowlers in the country. As captain, he won 135 matches out of 195 for India, including Tests, ODIs, and T20Is.
Although it might be impossible to reach the accolades of Virat Kohli in his cricket career, but, there are a few players in the sport currently, who could get to the levels of the great man in the near future. With that, SportsTiger looks at the three players who can be the next Virat Kohli.
1. Ollie Pope
Ollie Pope has been a major part of the England cricket setup, since making his Test debut against India at Lord’s in 2018. While he hasn’t been a part in the limited overs cricket for his national team, the 25-year-old became the full-time vice-captain for England in Tests, before the summer of cricket began in the country.
He has played 38 Test matches in his international career, scoring 2136 runs at an average of 34.35 with four centuries. The career trajectory of Virat Kohli and Ollie Pope has almost been identical in the longest format of the game, which could easily be the case once the English star batter gets his chance to finally represent the national team in the limited overs format.
