Scoring centuries and breaking records has almost become a habit for India skipper Virat Kohli and former Australia skipper Steve Waugh feels that the only record that shall elude the champion batsman is Don Bradman’s career average of 99.99. Apart from that, Waugh feels Kohli will break all the records considering his hunger, fitness and desire.
“He’s (Virat Kohli) got the passion and hunger, the fitness, the desire, the intensity and he loves playing the game. Unless he gets seriously injured, I think he’ll break all the batting records besides Bradman’s average,” Waugh told Cricket Australia.
Kohli added another accolade to his illustrious career during the ODI series against West Indies as he claimed his seventh Man of the Series award to equal the record held jointly by Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh. This after India defeated West Indies in the fifth ODI encounter to clinch the five-match series 2-1 in Thiruvananthapuram.
While Virat is now tied with the likes of Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting, only Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock are ahead of him with 15, 11 and 9 awards respectively.
Kohli was in a brilliant form during the recently concluded ODI series and with 453 runs in five matches, he was unarguably the best choice to claim the Man of the Series award.
Earlier in the series, Virat Kohli reached the 10,000-run mark in the 50-over format in style with 157 not out from 129 balls in the second match in Visakhapatnam. He also scored 140 in India’s series-opening eight-wicket victory.
The 29-year-old surpassed fellow Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar, who first crossed the 10,000-run mark in 259 innings in 2001.
Kohli, playing his 213th ODI, went on to score 157 off 129 deliveries to register his 37th ODI century since making his debut against Sri Lanka in 2008. In the third ODI Kohli added another feather to his illustrious cap as he became the first Indian cricketer to score three consecutive centuries in ODI cricket.