If you love playing cricket, you’ve probably heard the name Viv Richards. This former West Indies cricketer’s influence continues decades after his retirement. In his time, this cricketer played so much cricket that to this day no one could keep up with him, which is why he is not only called Viv Richards but Sir Viv Richards. In the 1970s and 1980s, Sir Viv Richards beat many of the world’s great fast bowlers without a helmet, in a way that today’s batsmen cannot manage even with a helmet.
When this great former West Indies cricketer was asked who he thinks is a cricketer today with style, attitude and swag like him? In return he also received the option of four players, including the names of the Australian Steve Smith, the Englishman Joe Root, the New Zealander Kane Williamson and the Indian Virat Kohli. Sir Viv Richards immediately replied without thinking: There is only one such cricketer, Virat Kohli. He said that in today’s cricket, there is undoubtedly only one person who has the style, swag and attitude like me and that is Virat Kohli.
Question: Do you remember any cricketer who reminds you of your style, attitude, swag and approach to the game?
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 28, 2023
Such a comment from Sir Viv Richards is really a big deal for Virat Kohli. Now let us show you why Sir Viv Richards’ words are so important and why he gave so much importance to Virat Kohli. You can answer this by looking at the statistics of these two great cricketers. Sir Viv Richards scored 8,540 runs in 121 Test matches between 1974 and 1991 at an average of 50.23, which included 24 centuries and 45 half-centuries. At the same time, he played 187 matches in the ODI format and scored 6,721 runs at an average of 47. During this period, he had scored 11 centuries and 45 half-centuries.
Virat Kohli has played a total of 111 Test matches between 2008 and 2023 and scored 8,676 runs at an average of 49.29. During this period he also composed 29 centuries and 29 half-centuries. At the same time, in the ODI format, Virat scored 13,848 runs in 292 matches at an average of 58.67, which includes 50 centuries and 72 half-centuries.