Published 19:29 IST, February 4th 2020
Herschelle Gibbs picks this Indian cricketer to be the all-time best in the business
Former South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs was asked to pick his all-time favourite Indian cricketer and the once swashbuckling batsman had a clear choice.
Former South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs has named Virat Kohli as his favourite India cricketer. In a chat with his fans on Twitter, a user asked Gibbs to name his ‘Indian Cricket Player of All-time and Current Time’ and Gibbs without any hesitant choose Virat Kohli. Kohli has been enjoying a brilliant run of form recently and has led Team India to a historic series win against New Zealand in the just concluded T20I series. When asked to pick his all-time favourite Indian cricketer on Twitter, Gibbs replied, "Kohli."
Team India reaching new heights under Kohli
The Men in Blue have been playing a fearless brand of cricket under Kohli's captaincy not only in Tests but also in the limited-overs format which has helped them to reach new heights. Earlier praising Kohli, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar had said that were a lot of similarities between the India skipper and former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan as they both instilled strong self-belief in their respective teams.
Manjrekar praises Kohli
Manjrekar also said that Pakistan under Imran had found different ways of winning matches even when it seemed all was lost. "India under Virat in NZ reminds me of Pakistan under Imran. Strong self-belief as a team. Pakistan under Imran found different ways of winning matches, often from losing positions. That only happens when the self-belief is strong," he tweeted after India whitewashed the Kiwis in the T20I rubber. Sanjay Manjrekar was trolled by netizens for this comparison.
Virat Kohli recently became the captain with most T20I bilateral series wins (10) after India beat New Zealand 5-0 in the recently concluded series. He surpassed the Ex-South African captain Faf du Plessis in the process. Under his captaincy, India is currently the number 1 Test team in the world. Now, Virat Kohli-led Indian side has also won eight consecutive limited-overs series since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Virat's record speaks for his greatness and the praise he gets from the other players. In Tests, he has played a total of 84 games and has scored 7202 runs at an average of 54.97. In ODIs, he has a prolific record of playing 245 games and scoring 11792 runs at an average of 59.85 in the process. Virat has represented India in 82 T20I games and has scored 2794 runs at an average of 50.80.
(With agency inputs)
Updated 19:29 IST, February 4th 2020