Legendary West Indies fast bowler Sir Curtly Ambrose has put star India batter Virat Kohli in the same bracket as Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting. Notably, Kohli is often compared with Tendulkar to be the greatest batter to play for the country as he’s closing in on his world record of most international hundreds. Kohli currently has 80 international centuries to his name and is just 20 hundreds behind Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries.
The 35-year-old recently broke Tendulkar’s record of most ODI hundreds (49) as he registered his 50th century against New Zealand in the ODI World Cup 2023 semi-final. With Kohli closing on breaking his idol record, Curtly Ambrose refrained from comparing the two legendary cricketers as he feels that players from different eras can’t be compared. However, he mentioned that Kohli would’ve dominated any era which makes him a great player like Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
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“Virat Kohli, the great man, someone who I admire as well, I love watching him. Don’t ask me to compare them (Sachin and Virat). I think, I don’t think I know he’s a great player and how I judge players because people like to compare different eras. I don’t particularly like to do those things,” said Ambrose in an interview with Sports Tak.
“But what I can say is when I look at great batsmen, how I judge them. Like presently Virat Kohli, he’s dominating today’s cricket, my question to myself is would he have done well during my era or before my era? I believe he would and because of that that’s why I give him great. Sachin Tendulkar is the same thing, Ricky Ponting and these guys are great players because they can dominate any era,” he added.
Kohli’s poor form in T20 World Cup 2024
Meanwhile, Kohli hasn’t been in the best of forms in the ongoing T20 World Cup having scored just 66 runs from five innings at an average of 13.20 and a strike rate of 108.19. The former India captain is opening the innings in the ongoing event alongside captain Rohit Sharma but has failed to notch up a big score.
However, the star batter is slowly finding form as he scored 24 (24) and 37 (28) in the last two innings after scoring just five runs in the first three innings of the tournament. With the tournament heading towards the knockout stages, India will hope Kohli to finally find his form as they take on Australia in their last Super 8 clash on Monday, June 24 at Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia.