Legendary Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has shared an interesting piece of advice for Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli amidst the ongoing 3-match ODI series between India and Australia.
Kohli recently ended his century drought in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia at the famous Narendra Modi Stadium as he smashed his first Test century in over three years. Kohli’s stunning knock helped the Indian register a memorable series win over Steve Smith’s Australia.
Akhtar, who recently backed Kohli to shatter Sachin Tendulkar’s incredible century record in world cricket, has made another big statement about the former captain of the Indian team. At a time when Kohli has made a return to his amazing form in all the formats of the game, Akhtar feels that Virat should only prioritize playing two of the oldest formats in international cricket.
Speaking on Sports Tak, Akhtar said: “As a cricketer, I would advise Kohli to stop playing T20I and just focus on ODIs and Tests. He is an exciting player in the middle and I think, T20Is take a lot of energy and he needs to save it now. If he does so, he’s just 34 and can easily play 6-8 years from now. Even if, from now on, he plays 50 Tests he can easily hit 25 hundreds,”
Shoaib Akhtar Gave A Big Advice To Virat Kohli
Further, advising Virat to concentrate on his game, he said,”Kohli should continue playing and should stop hearing the criticism he faces quite often. Both Virat and Babar are great players from our continent.”
Before Kohli made a stunning comeback to form, he went through a long phase of a lean patch. In fact, this Test century came after a long wait of 3 years. So far, Kohli has 75 centuries in international cricket and has amassed 8,416 runs in 108 Test matches for Team India.
Speaking further about Kohli, Akhtar said: “However, it will still be a daunting task for him in terms of fitness and mental health. Luckily, he is a strong guy, he is a Punjabi guy. It’s great that he is in a good frame of mind. He is concentrating and having a good time with his cricket. So he should remain focused and cross the 100-century barrier. And India will reserve high praise for him. And all these trash talks about Babar Azam and Virat Kohli – these are great players. Who is bigger than Kohli or Babar in Asia? No one. So all these loose talks are done just to grab attention,”
