Want to praise Kohli, better get a new Oxford dictionary: Ravi Shastri
The famous Indian cricket commentator who is known for his amusing and entertaining one-liners, Ravi Shastri has made a statement by declaring his team captain Virat Kohli as the best batsman in the entire world in all the formats. Shastri‚ a former India captain‚ feels the absolute impact of Kohli makes him the "world's best batsman".
The former Indian captain showered Kohli with lavish praise as he ended up scoring with 558 runs in his six innings making him the series’s leading scorer at a staggering average of 186.00‚ and was named Player of the Series and became the first player in this format to score over 500 runs in a bilateral series.
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When asked about his view of his team's captain, Shastri said, “Yes‚ I would say he is the best batsman in the world as I have seen him bat like this across all conditions and in all formats. “With him, it is not just about averages but the way he gets runs and the impact which we have on the team,” said Shastri who was overwhelmed by Kohli performance.
When asked to Kohli about the Shastri's comments‚ he said‚ he only care cares about his job of helping the team to win matches‚ not to in competition with anyone.
“There is only one motivation for me which is to get into a good frame of mind whenever I play. If anything‚ I always look to help my team in any way that I can. “I don’t want any tags‚ I don’t care about what the headlines say, I don’t want any headlines‚ I just go out there and do my job and it is up to the people to write what they want to write. “I don’t want to be called anything‚ I am doing my job and I am not doing anyone a favor. I just want to be in the zone of working as hard as I can and try to do the best for the team.”
Shastri said he was blessed to have an inspirational leader like Kohli who leads by example and commands respect from his teammates. “I feel proud as a coach that my boys showed intensity even after they went down 2-0 in the Test series. They showed character to come back and win the match in Johannesburg on a spiteful pitch.
While Kohli said he was not the one to write headlines, Shastri suggested the media to buy "the latest edition of an Oxford dictionary" and look for adjectives to describe Kohli’s current form.
"If I were you, I would visit the bookstore and pick up the Oxford dictionary," Shastri shot back. Kohli along with Joe Root, Kane Williamson, and Steven Smith are considered to be the four top batsmen in world cricket but Shastri feels that the Indian skipper is in a league of his own.
