New Delhi, May 14
England fast bowling ace James Anderson has hailed Virat Kohli as one of the greatest batters to ever play Test cricket and feels that expressed confidence that India possesses a deep talent pool capable of filling up the big shoes following the retirement of veteran players.
Kohli retired from Test cricket on Monday, bringing the curtains down on a glorious career with with 9,230 runs in 123 matches, including a stellar 30 centuries and 31 fifties.
He hung up his spikes as the fourth-most successful Test captain overall, behind Graeme Smith (53 wins), Ricky Ponting (48 wins), and Steve Waugh (41 wins).
Kohli’s 30 Test centuries make him the fourth-most successful India batter, behind Sachin Tendulkar (51 hundreds), Rahul Dravid (36), and Sunil Gavaskar (34). Kohli also made seven Test double hundreds, the most ever by an Indian.
The 36-year-old India legend shared an epic rivalry with Anderson, producing numerous unforgettable battles. He scored 305 runs against the England great at an average of 43.57 in 36 innings, while falling to him seven times.
“Great players. There will be a new captain because Sharma has retired. Kohli, one of the greatest Test batters that’s ever been. There’s big shoes to fill there but they’ve got a huge amount of talent in their squad. You just have to watch the IPL. They are bringing players into Test cricket from the IPL now who are just so attacking, aggressive, and fearless," said Anderson.