Virat Is the Best Batsman in Modern Era Along with Steve Smith Azharuddin

Virat Equals Azharuddin’s Record of Scoring 9 Tons as Test Captain

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Virat Kohli equals Mohammad Azharuddin’s record of scoring 9 tons as test captain | Image: XtraTime

Debasis Sen, Hyderabad: Virat Kohli added yet another feather in his cap. The Indian captain on Thursday reached the milestone of scoring the second most hundreds as India captain. He now joins the former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin, who had also scored 9 test hundreds as captain of India in test matches.

The former India captain spoke exclusively to xtratime.in over the phone from Delhi about Virat joining the elite club.

“He is a very class player. I think he is the best player in the world at the moment along with Steve Smith. Virat along with Smith, Root and de Villiers are the best batsmen in the contemporary era. But with AB not playing tests these days, Virat is the best batsman at the moment in this format.”

Azharuddin has scored 9 hundreds from 47 tests, whereas Virat has taken 24 test matches less to achieve the milestone.

“The hallmark of a great player is to do well in any condition and under any situation. Virat has proved that time and again in recent times.”

On being asked about what he likes the most about Virat, Azhar said, “The one thing that stays apart for me is his ability to stay focused and score runs in any format consistently. He is well aware of what is happening and has the ability to read the situation.”

The former India captain missed out the innings of Virat today as he was busy with other commitments in the capital.

“I only managed to watch him bat for a couple of overs towards the end. But the way he paced his innings was simply outstanding.”

On being asked whether he can break most cricketing records of the modern era, he said, “Records are meant to be broken and I think the form he is in at the moment, most batting records will tumble.”

This was also Kohli’s ninth hundred as India’s captain. Three of those came against Australia in 2014-15. He scored another hundred against Sri Lanka before hitting a maiden double hundred against West Indies.

Kohli then scored a double hundred against New Zealand before returning hitting 167 and 235 against England. He is in fact joint-second on the list alongside Mohammad Azharuddin. Sunil Gavaskar, who made 11 hundreds as captain in 47 Tests is on the top. Sachin Tendulkar is fourth on the list with seven hundreds from 25 Tests as captain.

TESTS INNINGS 100s INNINGS/100
Sunil Gavaskar 47 74 11 6.73
Virat Kohli 23 36 9 4.00
Mohammad Azharuddin 47 68 9 7.56
Sachin Tendulkar 25 43 7 6.14

 

Kohli has so far scored two double hundreds and two hundreds in nine home Tests since September. India has four more matches lined up against Australia.

Only Rahul Dravid has scored a century as a captain against Bangladesh. During the tour of 2007, Dravid scored a century to lead India to a comprehensive innings and 239 runs win over Bangladesh in the test match in Dhaka. India piled a massive score of 610/3 batting first. Wasim Jaffer (138), Dinesh Karthik (129), Sachin Tendulkar (122*) and Dravid all scored centuries. Bangladesh managed to score just 118 runs and 253 runs in both innings.