Indian veteran batter Virat Kohli is having a fantastic 2023 World Cup. With 543 runs in eight matches, Kohli is India’s leading and third-highest overall scorer in the ICC tournament, and the top-order batter will look to reclaim the top spot when team India faces the Netherlands in its final group match on November 12, Sunday. With two centuries and four fifties in the tournament, Kohli has once again demonstrated why he is regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time by smashing a record-equaling 49th ODI century against South Africa.

Naturally, the 35-year-old Kohli has many admirers in the cricket world, and West Indies batting legend Vivian Richards has recently professed his admiration for the India star. Richards praised Kohli, calling him a “credit” to the game, for his ability to escape unhurt from the most trying conditions due to his remarkable mental strength.

Virat is a go-getter and what sets him apart is his mental strength. He will have backed himself throughout, and on the occasions in the past in which I have chatted with him and we have discussed things, his mental strength has always been evident. That has been key to pushing him through to how he is playing now. Very few players, or people, are built like that, Richards told the ICC.

Richards also addressed the criticisms Kohli received during his lean patch, saying that one “cannot look past” the India star. It is worth noting that Kohli did not score a century between November 2019 and September 2022. Virat will have been through some tough times before this World Cup and some folks were even brave enough to call for his head. There have been a whole host of talented individuals on show but to top them all, you cannot look past Virat.

I am a huge fan of Virat, I have been for a long time, and he continues to show why he has to go down as one of the all-time greats, right up there with the likes of the great Sachin, the West Indian great further added. Many people have made comparisons between the two of us over the years, partly because of our shared intensity on the field. I love Virat’s enthusiasm even if he is fielding at long-on or long-off when one of his bowlers hits the pad, he is appealing. He is always in the game and I like individuals like that, Richards concluded.