The ongoing 2023 Cricket World Cup in India is slowly turning into Virat Kohli's tournament. The 2011 World Cup winner has been undoubtedly his side's best player in this campaign, having already registered four half-centuries (including a score in 90s) and a hundred. The former India captain has taken advantage of playing at home. Other than the Kohli fanaticism in the stands during India's matches, he has used his experience and knowledge of the grounds to his advantage. This has led to him being unplayable at times in this World Cup as India look to end their ICC trophy drought. (IND vs SA LIVE SCORE and LATEST UPDATES)
Rohit Sharma and Co. face South Africa on Sunday in Kolkata, and he will once again be aiming to script history. He was on the brink of it in India's previous fixture at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, but missed it by a whisker. Kohli has 48 ODI tons and is one hundred away from Sachin Tendulkar's world record of 49 centuries in that format. At the Wankhede against Sri Lanka, he was dismissed for 88 off 94 balls, with his former teammate Sachin present in the crowd. At the Eden Gardens, he will be back where it all started, when he got his first international century in Kolkata in 2009. If he gets his record-equalling ton, it could really be a special affair for the RCB star.
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Speaking to Cricbuzz, Michael Vaughan joined the bandwagon of former players lavishing poetic praise on Kohli. The England legend pointed out that other than his impressive numbers, Kohli's fitness puts him on a higher level than other India legends like MS Dhoni, Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. "You look at the numbers. He is 35 today but I see him as a 25-year-old. You know the way that he runs around the field, his energy, even though he is not the captain, but you can still see that he is still the driving force of this team, in terms of mentality," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking to Cricbuzz, Michael Vaughan joined the bandwagon of former players lavishing poetic praise on Kohli. The England legend pointed out that other than his impressive numbers, Kohli's fitness puts him on a higher level than other India legends like MS Dhoni, Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. "You look at the numbers. He is 35 today but I see him as a 25-year-old. You know the way that he runs around the field, his energy, even though he is not the captain, but you can still see that he is still the driving force of this team, in terms of mentality," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"When he finishes, it will be in a few years I hope. But when he finishes, his legacy is going to be huge. It is just not going to be his numbers or his average which is near on 60 in one-day cricket, plenty in Test match cricket, probably breaks all the record. I think what he did for Indian cricket in terms of fitness, the drive of fielding. I think he has really driven Indian cricket forward. He has probably been doing it for more than any of the players. I mean, MS Dhoni, Sachin (Tendulkar), Kapil (Dev) back in the day, Sunil (Gavaskar) and Zak (Zaheer Khan). Absolute legends back in the day, they are all incredibly great cricketers but Virat really did for Indian cricket, in terms of driving the professionalism that you require to be an athlete, to go out there and buzz in the field. I can only imagine what he says to the likes of Shubman Gill. It is not about playing the cover drive or pull shot. It is about being dynamic, it is about being aggressive with your running. It is about being focused all the time."
Giving fans something to debate about, Vaughan also went on to add that Kohli's legacy could be greater than any other Indian cricketer in history. "How he copes with the spotlight, very similar to Sachin," he said.
"When he finishes, his legacy could quite possibly be the biggest of any individual that's played cricket for India and that's saying something after the legends I just mentioned," he further added.
India has been going through a rather dramatic trophy drought since their 2013 Champions Trophy victory in 2013, when Dhoni was captain. During that period and even in the years after that till now, India has seemed invincible. But pressure has always seen them choke in crucial moments of ICC tournaments. Fans will never forget when India crashed to a narrow defeat against New Zealand at the 2019 World Cup, or their semifinal thrashing at the hands of England in the recent T20 World Cup. But this year looks like it could be Kohli's tournament and there is no better candidate than him to lead India's title challenge.