At 30, Virat Kohli already became a legend: Yuvraj Singh

Tags: India, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh

Published on: Jul 20, 2021

Former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh has opined that Team India captain Virat Kohli was already a legend at 30. According to Singh, cricketers become legend when they retire but Kohli reached that stage much before that. Kohli made his international debut in 2008 and has gone on to become one of the most successful batsmen in the history of the game. In 92 Tests, he has amassed 7547 runs at an average of 52.04. Further, he has 12169 runs in 254 ODI matches at an average of 59.07 and 3159 runs at an average of 52.65 from 90 T20Is.

Yuvraj told Times of India that, even as a youngster, Virat showed great dedication and worked really hard during training. He said, “Virat showed some great promise when he came on board. The moment he got the opportunities, he grabbed them. That’s how he took a spot in the World Cup (Indian squad) because he was very young at that time. And it was between him and Rohit. At that time, Virat was scoring runs. That’s the reason, Virat got the spot. And compared to now, there is a complete change in him.

“I have seem him grow and train in front of me. He was probably the hardest worker, very disciplined with his training. When he was scoring runs, you could see that he is somebody who wants to be the best player in the world. He had that kind of an attitude. He has got that swag," Yuvraj added.

According to the former India all-rounder, Yuvraj pointed out that Kohli’s hunger for runs hasn’t diminished even after taking over leadership. He praised the captain for maintaining his consistency all these years.

“He was scoring a lot of runs and then became the captain. Sometimes you get bogged down, but when he became captain, his consistency became even better. At almost 30, he has achieved a lot of things. People become legends when they retire. At 30, he already became a legend. It was really great to watch him grow as a cricketer. Hope he finishes on a high, because he has got a lot of time," Yuvraj further stated.

Having lost the World Test Championship (WTC) final to New Zealand, Kohli will next lead India in the five-match Test series in England. India will take on a County Select XI in a practice game from July 20. The Test series begins on August 4 in Nottingham.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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