Former England cricketer James Anderson may have enjoyed his bit rivalry with Virat Kohli, which began in 2014 with the India batter’s horrendous England tour, before he managed to get the better of the veteran fast bowler in the subsequent face-offs, but it did not stop the recently-retired star to hail the former India captain as “one of the best” players while chasing runs and finishing games. Anderson’s comment particularly pertained to white-ball cricket.
Kohli amassed 7852 runs in ODI cricket while chasing, the second-most in history after Sachin Tendulkar (8720 runs), who has been in 76 more such situations than the former. However, Kohli has scored the most centuries (27) while chasing and has the second-most number of fifty-plus knocks (67) after Sachin (69). 5786 of Kohli’s total runs while chasing came in a winning cause, the most by any batter in ODI history with 23 centuries and 48 fifty-plus scores.
Kohli stands second in T20Is as well. With 2013 runs, he only stands behind Ireland’s Paul Stirling (2151), but has more fifty-plus scores (20) while chasing than any other batter. Of his total runs, 1651 came in winning cause, the most by any batter in T20I history, with 16 fifty-plus scores.
Speaking on the Tailenders Podcast recently, Anderson said: “I do not know if there is been a better batter in the history of the game batting second and chasing down scores than Virat Kohli. His record at chasing is absolutely phenomenal. The number of hundreds he has scored in the second innings, chasing down scores is ridiculous.”
“It is no surprise that when he gets in that situation, with his mentality, it is just like it is meant to be. His self-belief is so high,” added Anderson.
Is Virat Kohli the greatest white-ball finisher?
Anderson was further stressed on whether he feels Kohli is the greatest white-ball batter, but the veteran England fast bowler, who announced his international retirement last month, kept his focus on the India legend’s abilities to finish games. He said that while Michael Bevan of Australia would pull off fine finishes for Australia in the 1990s and early 2000s, the centuries scored by Virat during successful chases make him the “greatest finisher” besides one of the best white-ball batters ever. Anderson even ignored former India captain MS Dhoni, widely hailed as one of the best finishes in world cricket and original ‘chase master’ Sachin Tendulkar in his comments.
“I cannot say that. I was thinking more in terms of just chasing. [As for the best white-ball batter ever,] Michael Bevan from Australia comes to my mind, particularly in the late 1990s and early 2000s – he was just phenomenal coming in at number six and doing that job,” he said.
“Kohli batting at number 3 gets those hundreds while Bevan was renowned for getting his 50s, 60s and being at the end, while Kohli gets the big score, to get his teams over the line. I honestly can’t think of a better finisher and greater white-ball players than him [Kohli],” he added.