South African cricketers, including skipper Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada, and Keshav Maharaj have lavished praise on Team India batting legend Virat Kohli ahead of Test Series opener between two sides at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday, December 26.
Kohli is considered one of the modern-day batting greats and also one of the few ambassadors of the game to keep Test cricket alive. He expressed fondness for Test cricket by calling himself 'traditionalist'.
The former India captain will lock horns with South African bowlers when two sides meet in Boxing Day Test in Centurion. Kohli has aggregated 719 runs at an average of 51.35 on South African soil.
Speaking on Star Sports, South African cricketers have nothing but admiration for Virat Kohli. Captain Bavuma stated that he is perhaps biggest threat in India's batting, while Markram was awestruck by Kohli's hunger and competitive nature.
“The biggest threat in the Indian batting line-up. Think you obviously can’t rule out a guy like Virat Kohli. He’s played here in South Africa quite a number of times, so he would say that he understands the conditions.” Temba Bavuma said.
“It’s always great playing against great players. Virat is a great player. He’s had quite some success against us, but at the same time, we’ve had success against him. It’s a battle that I look forward to always, when you measure yourself up against the best. That’s the reason why you play,” pacer Kagiso Rabada opined on Kohli.
“He’s a fierce competitor. We might not always be the most skillful people, but it’s about trying to fight out, compete, have more hunger than those guys that we play against. Virat speaks to those characteristics as well,” Aiden Markram said.
'He knows his Test cricket game' - Keshav Maharaj on Virat Kohli
South African all-rounder Keshav Maharaj is one of the opinion that Kohli knows his game in Test cricket inside out, adding that one can't average over 50 in batting overnight.
"He knows his Test cricket game. He scored runs for numerous amount of years and the amount of centuries he has got… It’s just about making sure that you can be better than him on the day." he said.
"Someone of his caliber, it’s a best way to gauge yourself in terms of where you are with your game. Someone doesn’t just average 50 overnight playing over 100 Test matches for the country,” Maharaj said.
Kohli is a prolific batter in Test Cricket, amassing 8646 runs, including 7 double centuries and 22 centuries, at an average of 49.29 in 111 matches.
