Virat Kohli perished in the last half an hour of Day 2 of the 4th Test between India and Australia, but former batter and head coach Justin Langer still considers him the best batter he has ever seen. Langer has played with and against some of the greatest of all time – Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh, and to place Kohli above these legends is a huge claim in itself. However, Langer has solid evidence to back his belief in Kohli, to the extent that the Aussie great is willing to put his life and last penny on the Indian batting superstar.
“You asked me Mark why I said yesterday that Virat Kohli is the best player that I have ever seen. There were a few raised eyebrows, but he actually is. We talk about Sachin… What a player. It was one of the privileges of my life to play against Sachin Tendulkar and, of course, with Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara. If I had my last rupee or my last dollar, I would pay to watch Brian Lara bat, but if I had my life and my last dollar, and both of them together, I would have Virat Kohli batting for me,” Langer said while commentating on Day 2 of the MCG Boxing Day Test between India and Australia.
This isn’t the first time Langer has referred to Kohli as the GOAT. His first public appreciation of the Indian batting great came during the 2018 Border-Gavaskar Trophy when Kohli continued to torment Australia with a century at Perth and an electrifying knock of 82 at the MCG. Langer’s admiration for Kohli was captured in Amazon Prime’s docu-series ‘The Test’, when he said that Kohli is the best player he’s ‘ever seen in life’. Refusing to budge from his stance even five years later, Langer explained why he feels so.
The rationale behind Langer’s best-ever verdict on Kohli
“The reason why I say that is not because of the expansive shots, his cover drives or his hook shots. But you just saw, the way he is watching the ball, his running between the wicket, his fielding, his gladiatorial style of leadership. His elite fitness level, everything that he’s brought to the table. His numbers speak for themselves. You can never argue with data. Those are why he is the best player I have ever seen. And we have seen a lot of them. But he is the one player, I think; if I had to put my money on, he would be the one.”
Kohli batted well for 36 off 82 balls before once again getting out to the ball outside off-stump. Kohli had played with a lot of self-restraint – albeit not at the cost of fluidity – as he and Yashasvi Jaiswal added 103 runs for the third wicket. But Jaiswal’s run out, followed by Kohli and nightwatchman Akash Deep’s dismissal in the last half an hour before stumps, rocked India, as they went from 153/2 to 164/5, losing three wickets for six runs.
