There is huge gap between Virat Kohli and rest of world, says Lara

Virat Kohli (Pic/AFP)

Windies batting legend Brian Lara has declared that Virat Kohli is the best batsman in the world by a distance and has liked him to a run machine, scoring in all formats of the game.

Sachin Tendulkar is still Brian Lara's favourite but in the current generation, he likes Virat Kohli. Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar were considered the best batsmen of the 90s and 2000s.

"He (Virat Kohli) is a (run) machine. But sorry to say Sachin Tendulkar is my (choice)," he said after being conferred the Doctorate in Science (Honours Causa) by the D Y Patil University in Nerul here.
"But getting back to your question, no doubt there is a huge gap between Virat Kohli and the rest of the world in all forms of the game. Rohit Sharma might have got four centuries in this World Cup, (Jonny) Bairstow or whatever, if you want somebody to bat in T20, T10, 100 balls (cricket) or Test cricket, it is going to be Virat Kohli today, added Lara, who still holds the record for highest score in Tests.

Lara, who scored 22358 (11953 in ODIs) in international cricket, said if today Indian batsmen are doing well in away series, it is because of Tendulkar, who instilled such confidence in them.
"The (impression) Sachin left on the game is just unbelievable, because he sort of bridged that period, where you felt that when Indian batsman leaves Indian soil, Indian pitches, they are not that good. But Sachin Tendulkar was good on every surface and all of the Indian batsman are good on every single surface today, I think simply because they took a page out of his (Sachin's) book," added Lara.

Brian Lara expressed his disappointment over a strong West Indian team getting knocked out so easily out of the World Cup.

"We have been turned to a corner. Every country, every sports team goes through a little bit of cycle, but we seem to be in the same position for quite some-time, which is unfortunate."

During the over-hour programme, Lara spoke at length about his early days, contribution of his father, his college days and facing the spin duo of Sri Lankan great Muttiah Murlidharan and Shane Warne and his relationship with Tendulkar.

Brain Lara held the highest score in Test cricket of 375 for a long time and later scored the world's first and only 400 run score in Tests.

With inputs from PTI

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