'He's a born leader': Suresh Raina names IND player who wants to be 'next Virat Kohli'

Former Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli brought a revolution to Team India during his captaincy days. The Indian team hardly won games outside India and was dependent on its batters to win games before Kohli took over as captain. He not only scored runs with his bat but also transformed the Indian bowling attack. This metamorphosis helped the team win matches in almost every corner of the world. However, despite achieving so many milestones, Virat Kohli wasn't able to lead India win an ICC title. 

3 things you need to know 

• Team India recently defeated Sri Lanka in the finals of the Asia Cup 2023 
• Virat Kohli scored a century against Pakistan in the tournament and achieved many records
• Virat Kohli has been rested from the first two IND vs AUS ODI matches

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Suresh Raina predicts young cricketer to be the next 'Virat Kohli' of India 

Former Indian cricket team batter Suresh Raina, while speaking on Jio Cinema, predicted that Indian opener Shubman Gill as the next 'Virat Kohli' of the team. Gill was the highest run scorer in the 2023 Asia Cup and also scored a ton against Bangladesh. Shubman is ranked as the number 2 ODI batsman in the world and is just 43 rating points away from dethroning Pakistani batsman Babar Azam. During a discussion, Suresh Raina considered Shubman Gill as the next Virat Kohli and said: 

He'll be one of the most important players at the World Cup. I know that he wants to be a superstar and wants to be the next Virat Kohli and is in that aura already and after this World Cup, we will be talking about him more often. The form he's playing in with his hand speed - it's extremely strong.

Spinners don't know where to bowl to him and if fast bowlers don't swing the ball, he can play those really well with a straight or a flick. His mindset will not stop here. What Rohit Sharma did in the 2019 World Cup; Gill could do the same for India this year. He'll get 50 overs to bat, so it's a takeoff point for his batting. I think he's a born leader and he shows that in his game. 

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What Virat Kohli quality is Shubman Gill lacking? 

Team India batter Shubman Gill impressed a lot with his 121-run innings against Bangladesh but was not able to take the team over the line. On the other hand, Virat Kohli has the quality to take the game deep and finish the matches by playing some big knocks. Gill is pretty much similar to Virat in many aspects but this is one big Virat quality that he is lacking which makes him a bit different from Kohli.