Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Will Virat Kohli beat Sachin Tendulkar’s record?' that was published in Newsband

Will Virat Kohli beat Sachin Tendulkar’s record?

The 2016 season undoubtedly belonged to skipper Virat Kohli. Kohli showed his mastery over all formats of cricket by rewriting the record books. No other cricketer other than Virat Kohli since Sachin Tendulkar has left such a firm imprint on a limited-overs contest. In this year’s IPL, Kohli was in the zone, his bat a mere extension of his arm, pulling out shots at will that no fielding team could anticipate or limit. Kohli held centre stage, ahead of Chris Gayle and A.B. de Villiers.

Throughout the tournament Kohli gained tempo, shepherded his team, destroyed bowlers with huge sixes and was always alert to the little gaps in the field through which he threaded boundaries. His four centuries came double-fast.

Undoubtedly the star performer of IPL 2016, Kohli and his men should have lifted the cup this time for their extravaganza throughout the season. His batting in 2016 has been surreal. It’s true that he has been little unlucky this time but he won our hearts instead.

Salute to Kohli for his cricketing prowess. He has set such tall benchmarks in the batting that the IPL editions in the future are bound to be more and more interesting - and hence, more entertaining - as the batsmen would compete to reach those standards and try to even excel them. Perhaps, cricket lovers and players would be indebted to Kohli for this, for many years to come.

We should wait and see and what he does in other formats but with this form he could beat more records including that of Sachin

Virat Kohli deserves to be the captain in all three formats. He is a special blend of consistency, power and presence of mind. It is time for Indian cricket selectors to start thinking. India has no major event in three years till 2019 World Cup. This is the best chance to think and build.

Virat Kohli has rightly been named as T20 Player of the Year. A time has come where you have someone you have groomed over a period of time, who is ready. In the next 18 months, India hardly plays any ODIs, the gaps between Tests and ODIs are massive. So it’s time to look ahead.