At 31, 'King Kohli' Has Conquered Many Milestones To Stake Claim As A Batting Maestro

Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who turned 31 on Tuesday, was poured in with birthday wishes from fellow cricket colleagues, eminent personalities and his die-hard fans from all across the globe. Indian cricket has been blessed with plenty of batting talents over its eight-decade long sojourn. With every passing decade, there has been a batting behemoth that has raised the benchmark of excellence and took the art of batsmanship to loftier heights. If the 70s and early 80s were all about 'Little Master' Sunil Gavaskar holding the fort against lethal pace batteries, the 90s truly belonged to the 'Master Blaster' Sachin Tendulkar who tonked the greatest exponents. Among these two batting giants, Indian cricket was graced with fine technicians in Gundappa Vishwanath and Rahul Dravid, wristy magicians in Mohammad Azharuddin and VVS Laxman, elegant southpaw in Sourav Ganguly, a belligerent dasher in Virender Sehwag and clinical finishers in Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. With Sachin Tendulkar drawing curtains to a glorious career in 2013, Indian cricket looked for their next batting idol to carry forward the golden legacy. With many noteworthy candidates raising their hands to fill in those gigantic shoes, Virat Kohli emerged as the heir apparent to take on the daunting responsibility. It was never easy to replicate or even come close to the herculean feats scaled by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. However, in over a decade long career in international cricket, Kohli has proved his mettle and pedigree as a world-class batsman who has left many bewildered with his match-winning heroics with the willow. 21036 international runs laced with 69 tons across 3 formats of the game are semi-Bradmanesque figures that make Kohli's batting resume glitter and glow. What makes it even more noteworthy is a well-defined method to his madness. A conventional technique, hitting the ball along the turf, pacing his innings to perfection and accelerating at just the right moment to power those mammoth chases and script many memorable Indian wins. Virat Kohli has done enough to be hailed as the best limited-overs batsman of his generation. In India's highly successful period in both Test and ODI cricket since 2015, Kohli has been the batting lynchpin and forms the very nucleus of a well-oiled batting unit alongside Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul and MS Dhoni. Consistency has been his forte and his unending hunger to notch up match-winning tons is dazzling. An astounding 50-plus average in all three formats of the game sums up Kohli's staggering run-scoring prowess. With every other innings he bats, a milestone is surpassed or a record broken. At just 31 years of age, Kohli is at the peak of his prowess and with the jaw-dropping fitness levels he maintains, he can render another 5-6 years of yeoman service to Indian cricket. With every other master class innings Virat plays, his already tall stature grows and takes him closer to that legendary status which only a select few greats have been able to achieve.