Every match-winning knock that comes off Virat Kohli’s blade is elevating his stature these days. The India Test skipper’s scorching form, which has seen him slam 1200 runs in 16 Tests this year at an average of 80.00, including three double hundreds in back-to-back series, has made his numerous fans believe that the 28-year-old may just be the best batsman India has ever produced.
Though he himself is now a member of the ‘Kohli fan club’, England opening great-turned commentator Geoff Boycott has offered a ‘reality check’ for the die-hard supporters of the batsman. The 76-year-old believes that ‘Kohli mania’ is also a by-product of human tendency to be prisoners of the moment.
“We’re all human. What we see on TV, we think that it’s the best ever. Is Kohli better than (Sunil) Gavaskar? Hang on. The kid’s going to be a great player. But Gavaskar and (Sachin) Tendulkar were great players too. It’s easy to say ‘long live the king.’ ‘The king is dead.’ That’s what happens to us all. We’re all: ‘Was that Tendulkar, did he really play and get a 100 hundreds?’ ‘Was he really better than Kohli?’ We focus on what we see because we’re human,” Boycott said while speaking at a Rotary club of Bombay Midtown meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday (December 14).