Former South Africa captain and the current RCB skipper, Faf du Plessis, mounted rich praises for his RCB teammate and India superstar Virat Kohli for his ability to win games in run-chases. The South African even went on to hail Kohli as the greatest run-chaser the white-ball cricket has ever seen!
Virat Kohli’s status as a great run-chaser has kept on enhancing in the ongoing World Cup 2023, where he produced 3 half-centuries and a century in 5 innings in successful run-chases.
Faf du Plessis is currently doing commentary and broadcasting duties for Star Sports in the World Cup in India. The RCB captain was asked to pick the best chaser in the game. Without any doubts in his mind, Faf named Virat Kohli.
“Virat Kohli is the best chaser in cricket history,” Du Plessis stated with absolute clarity and conviction.
Kohli scored 85 runs against Australia, 55* against Afghanistan, 103* against Bangladesh, and 95 against New Zealand. While the Afghanistan and Bangladesh chases were rather comfortable, Kohli stepped up in tricky run-chases against Australia and New Zealand against tough bowling attacks.
His record batting second is phenomenal. Kohli has the second-most runs in run-chases in ODIs: 7794 runs, only behind Sachin Tendulkar’s 8720 runs. However, Kohli’s average of 65 is way ahead of Tendulkar’s 42 in run-chases, and Kohli has 27 centuries to Tendulkar’s 17.
Further, Virat Kohli has simply been out of the world in successful run-chses: Kohli is the leading ODI run-scorer in successful run-chases with 5786 runs at an average of 90 with 23 centuries in winning cause.
Faf du Plessis names the two best qualities of Virat Kohli
So what makes Kohli so different from others? Faf reckons it is his “unwavering hunger and unmatched competitiveness” that stands Kohli out from other players. He hailed Kohli’s mental strength and his ambition to always out-better himself. He added that he’s not seen any player with a “stronger mindset” than the Delhi-born Kohli.
“The standout qualities of Virat Kohli are his unwavering hunger and unmatched competitiveness to constantly strive for excellence in the game. I have never witnessed anyone with a stronger mindset than him. He is always on, always striving for greatness, and that is incredibly inspiring for everyone,” the South African asserted.
