Praising Indian batting mainstay Virat Kohli (in pic), West Indies great Michael Holding said the top-order player’s knack of converting starts into three-figure scorers shows that he has the makings of a class cricketer. Having represented India in 151 ODIs, Kohli has registered 22 hundreds and 33 fifties at an average of 51.95 — his conversion rate of innings per hundred being 6.5. Holding said that Kohli has justified his talent as a batsman.
“See, Virat Kohli, once he gets runs he keeps going and gets three figures which is what you want from a class batsman. You always look at that as far as the cricketers are concerned,” Holding said on ESPNcricinfo. “A lot of batsmen who are coming at 6 and 7 find it difficult to get three figures. But once you come to the wicket between 1 and 4, you should be able to get up there,” he added.
Holding was also impressed with Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. “Shami in particular bowled beautifully, he had good control, he bowled with good pace. Yadav bowled with good pace as well, I think you could see that, he really put his foot down on the gas,” said the former West Indies speedster.