Virat Kohli is currently playing his 500th international match. As soon as he stepped on to the field for the second Test match against West Indies at the Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain in Trinidad, he achieved the distinction of having played the landmark number of matches for the country across formats. He made it even more memorable for himself as well as the team by becoming the first player in the world to score a hundred on his 500th game. Following a special performance and an incredible milestone, Kohli has been receiving a lot of praise by the sporting fraternity.
Among many other greats of the game, West Indies legend Courtney Walsh has also showered praises on the Indian star. He rated Kohli as the second great Indian batter behind Sachin Tendulkar but included him in his top list of players who he considers to be the greatest. He put Kohli in the same league as former Pakistan batter Javed Miandad.
"Well, as an Indian great, I would rate him just behind Sachin. Sachin is one of the greatest I have seen and played against," Walsh told JioCinema.
"Brian Lara, Viv Richards, I will put them up from a West Indian point of view. Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh. Two gentlemen I played when I was a youngster, Graham Gooch from England and Javed Miandad, who probably did not play as many games. But the value they put on their wickets reminded me of Virat Kohli as well, he doesn't want to go. So I will definitely have him in my top 4, top 5 greatest cricketers I have seen," he added.
The ex-West Indian pacer revealed that he had a conversation with Kohli when the batter was the skipper of the Indian team. Walsh happened to be the West Indies' selector at that point in time. He said that Kohli wants to be the best in whatever he does.
"He has got the passion for the game, he wants to leave a mark in the game. I remember having a conversation with him when I was the selector for West Indies, and he was the captain. We were having a chat. You could tell that he wants to be the best. He was willing to seek out advice from anyone that will help to do so. I am not surprised by the achievement. The passion he has and the drive he has to be the top 3, top 5 in everything he does," Walsh said.