Virat Kohli, The right replacement for Sachin Tendulkar?
By msdivkar
@msdivkar (23359)
India
January 22, 2011 4:29am CST
Seeing Virat Kohli this season at home and in South Africa I am convinced that he is going to be the right choice to replace Sachin Tendulkar as and when he decides to hang his boots in test match cricket. He has not yet been tried in test matches so far but a batsman who can be successful on fast bouncy pitches in South Africa has to be a real player. His solid defense, his judgement of the ball leaving the off stump, his tackling of bouncers make him truly class test player. He has stood tall in South Africa when the wickets tumbled infront of him. When Pujara tipped to replace Rahul Dravid, Virat can be seen as replacement for Sachin. What are your views on this?
1 person likes this
10 responses
@venkit (2955)
• India
22 Jan 11
surely, he is the promising talent india is having.
he is already a star before getting into the indian team.
he is a our under 19 world cup winning captain.
very good top order batsman who can play fearless cricket with some good classic shots.
i think he is defenitely going to fill that spot which will be generated after the retirement of great Sachin tendulkar.
1 person likes this
@Wismay (2037)
• India
22 Jan 11
I think many are taking your discussion as Kohli equals to Tendulkar kinda...
I think you meant to say, when Tendulkar retire there will be a place in the playing eleven of Indian team, like number 4 in the test team, so one can choose Kohli to play in that position.
I think I agree with it.
No one can find another Sachin so someone has to play in his position in the team.
So if Kohli keeps his focus, determination and single headed love for the game and improvement, then what more can team India ask for?
Let us see what Kohli makes out of himself!
And let us wish him all the success!
Happy Mylotting!
@stardustcdsd (1856)
• India
22 Jan 11
seems this discussion will never end.
all it takes is someone to play better cricket for a series or 2,he will automatically be in the race for tendulkar's spot.
seems youngsters needs to learn from sehwag.
when he first came into picture and batted along with sachin,its hard to differentiate each other.
when he hit those hard hitting centuries,they called him the next tendulkar.
but what did he do?
play his own game and now young players want to be like sehwag.
thats how it should be.
if you try to fill in shoes,especially such a humongous ones like sachin,you will never do it.
so let the guy play his own game and see if tendulkar retires or not
@msdivkar (23359)
• India
22 Jan 11
I think you have not taken the cognizance of one sentence in my post 'as and when Sachin thinks of Hanging his boots'. I don't think we can compare Sachin and Sehwag they are two different types of players. While Sachin has got the classic approach towards the game, Sehwag's game is more oriented towards eye to hand coordination. His failures in between explains that. Virat Kohli has got sound technic like Sachin or Dravid.
@srijshm (1165)
• India
23 Jan 11
Virat Kohli is a certainty in team India in all the three formats. He is among the fastest players to reach 1000 runs in ODI.
One must not forget that he captained Indian under 19 in Junior world cup. He has done well in Australian pitches in under 21 matches.
It is said that RC coach ray jennings changed his attitude towards the game. Whatever jernnings did is working well for India.
I do not want to comment. It is too early to talk about tendulkar's retirement from tests. I think Virat will play alongside Sachin.
@sivanand82 (1)
• India
3 Feb 11
Hi .Hmm where is the point of Virat Replacing Sachin?.When it is very obvious that till date ,We have not found a suitable replacement for Sourav even after nearly three years into his retirement.
SureshRaina: Oh my goodness he just a crab in those bouncy wickets of South Africa.Agreed All the batsman are not blessed with technique of a kallis and sachin.But Raina to me showed no willingness to fight ,to even stay in middle.
Yuvaraj: Test matches other than against Pakistan does not seem to interest him further.He will remain as OneDay Wonder!.
RohitSharma: This guy thinks he is the best batsman in the world and plays too many strokes for nothing.Hype and Hope is one thing ,Reality is different.
From NoHopers to Test Hopefuls:
Virat Kohli:Seeing the way he played in the South Africa Virat is Definely looks a Test Material but which is untested.His Temperament and skill are far better than the names mentioned above.It is baffling Y still he has not made it.(But India Packed Test Schedule and the calibre of above players mean He will make his Test Debut for sure this year.)
Virat,Badri,Pujara are my best Bets in the next few years in Test cricket.Hopefully They are alteast half successful as the FAbThree
@shrijsr (574)
• Bangalore, India
22 Jan 11
Hi there,
You are right that virat kohli is doing great recently. But, comparing him with the legend like Sachin Tendulkar, well we need to think thousand times for that. Thats because, after 20-20 started dominating the cricket field, players are just looking forward to doing well in one match, the net match will be in their hands, well, consistency is something which is lacking to the great extent.
Unlike the legends like Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid and others, till they played, they were consistent with only a few odd matches. That is something that these young players need to learn.
And it is very early to decide whether he can replace Sachin, and that too when Sachin is still playing, the=is question is quite inevitable right now. But, when thought about the future, then maybe, may not be. Time will answer this question.
And, personally I don't think anyone replace the great legends, not only Sachin, but even others too like shane warne, muthiah murlitharan and people like that!
@msdivkar (23359)
• India
22 Jan 11
I think the reply to your concerns are contained in my reply to the response above. I never tried to compare Sachin and Virat I have just said Virat is the right choice to rplace Sachin as and when He thinks of retiring from cricket. That has to happen one day. No star can be born overnight. It has to take years. Time alone will tell how good Virat is as replacement to Sachin. He is definitely going to make it to test cricket one day I have no doubt in my mind.
@shrijsr (574)
• Bangalore, India
22 Jan 11
Well, I'll be equally happy if we have Virat performing well. Its good for the team and the country as well. All I wanted to say is that, we should not pressurize him by comparing him with the greats!
Let him do what he does. Let him enjoy his game! Obviously under pressure, none of us will do good, in fact, we might even go bad some times. So, we should not be judgmental about him now itself. As the years pass on, surely we will have a great player. Then, who knows, Virat would make such a mark that, the next generation would say, I want to be Virat rather than them telling Sachin again!
I thin we need to give respect for people's individuality and not confide them in a boundary!
Well, its just my opinion though!
@raj7shot (838)
• India
22 Jan 11
Nice question.
Virat is a gr8 talented young player of India.His technique in placing the ball and hitting the wrong balls are sound.
He is right person to replace sachin, once he will show his succeed in 5 day cricket also.
He is consistent in ODI, same he want to produce in Test format also.
@ramaswamyvtkv (2879)
• India
22 Jan 11
I think he can be a good replacement for Sachin.
he bats well under pressure .
And he plays CLASSIC shots.
I had seen a few players who plays some perfect Classy shots,he is one among them.
He is a promising talent.
@audocious (16)
• India
22 Jan 11
i think we cant judge him by watching for few matches...
"if cricket is a religion then sachin is the god"...then how much care we should take while commenting about this????
and yes virat is an excellent player but we cant say that he is the right replacement for sachin
can we say that he can consistently play?????
sachin is the only person who dont have any allegations right from his career starting..
can we say virat is such a guy???
so these r the questions we have to answer before this
for that i think we have to wait for some more matches
but u r comparison is good :)
@msdivkar (23359)
• India
22 Jan 11
Hi audacious,
I have got equal respect for Sachin as you do. when I say Virat is right replacement for Sachin it doesn't mean he is equal to him but he is the best among the lot in India to replace him. We my have to wait for another century to get another Sachin but he has to retire one day and has got to be replaced by some body. Whom I see as his immediate replacement is Virat. He has been performing consistently. South Africa was his test whether he can stand real fast balling on fast bouncy pitches and answer to my mind is yes he has come out with flying colors. he has stood tall among the ruins in South Africa so far.o
@francis_ferns (174)
• India
22 Jan 11
Hold your horses...
Its way too early to compare him to an icon like the little master.
And 9 out of 10 times when a player is linked or compared to a big player he gives in to the pressure and does not perform that well..
We have see this happening in the past in the Team and hence i believe the boy should be given some more time..
He does look like a good player but he needs to develop a lot..
