Former India batsman Yuvraj Singh lauded India captain Virat Kohli, saying he became a ‘legend’ by the time he became 30 years old. Yuvraj recalled watching Kohli grow in front of him in the latter’s early days with the Indian team, saying Kohli was the hardest worker in the side.
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“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," Yuvraj told Times of India.
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“I have seem him grow and train in front of me. He was probably the hardesh 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 said unlike some players, captaincy did not affect Kohli’s batting. In fact, it became better.
“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."
Kohli has 27 centuries in Tests and 43 in ODIs, tallying 22875 runs across formats.
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