Virat Kohli’s incredible ‘300’ achievement gets highest praise from teammate KL Rahul: “Great servant of cricket”

KL Rahul fell short of words while praising teammate Virat Kohli, who is nearing his 300th ODI for the Indian national cricket team.

Virat Kohli’s incredible ‘300’ achievement gets highest praise from teammate KL Rahul: “Great servant of cricket”

KL Rahul praised Virat Kohli as the latter nears his 300th ODI for India. (via Al-Jazeera)

Indian national team star KL Rahul was full of praise for teammate and Indian cricketing great Virat Kohli, as the 36-year-old nears another career milestone. Rahul ran out of words to describe Kohli’s legacy while hoping that more ‘games and centuries’ are left for him.

Virat Kohli, who was struggling for runs leading up to the Champions Trophy, most recently found form with an unbeaten match-winning hundred against arch-rivals, Pakistan. It was his 51st century in the 50-over format. He also became the fastest player to reach the milestone of 14,000 One-Day runs, overtaking Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara‘s record.

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The 36-year-old will be playing his 300th One-Day International when India takes on New Zealand in its final group stage encounter in the ICC Champions Trophy. It makes Kohli only the seventh Indian cricketer to achieve this feat. Tendulkar leads the list, with 463 ODIs played, followed by ex-India captain MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, and Yuvraj Singh.

Meanwhile, as Kohli approaches his 300th ODI, teammate KL Rahul went on to speak about his greatness and legacy in a pre-match press conference. Rahul hailed Kohli’s career-long exploits while stating that he is short of words to describe how good Kohli has been. KL added that the Delhi-born batter has been a great servant of the Indian team and praised his match-winning knock against Pakistan.

That’s (300) a lot of ODI matches. Words fall short to express how good a player he has been and what a great servant of Indian cricket he has been.

KL Rahul on Virat Kohli (H/T India Today)

Not just Kohli, but KL Rahul also went on to take note of Indian national team skipper Rohit Sharma, hoping the two veteran players would continue playing and inspiring the others. The team has undoubtedly set its eyes on winning the Champions Trophy this year.

KL Rahul acknowledges fear of Rishabh Pant replacing him in XI

KL Rahul recently admitted that he feels the presence of wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant and fears that could take his place in the XI. Pant remained out of the starting XI for India’s first two matches in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy.

KL Rahul on Rishabh Pant competition
KL Rahul admitted that he fears Rishabh Pant could take his place in the Indian team XI. (via India Today)

While Pant has remained India’s go-to wicket-keeping option in the shortest and the longest formats of the game, he is yet to overtake Rahul in the 50-over format. However, KL Rahul did not rule out the possibility of a change in the XI and noted that Pant is breathing down his neck. Rahul added that he is not trying to compete with Pant and admitted that they would work on shared opportunities.

I won’t lie [about competition from Rishabh Pant]… For me, if I’m given the opportunity, I try and see what I can do best. I’m not trying to compete with Rishabh or I’m not trying to play like him.

KL Rahul on Rishabh Pant (H/T Times of India)

Nonetheless, Rahul has impressed with the bat in his last few outings for the national team. He scored a composed 41 off 47 balls in the opening CT encounter against Bangladesh and a quick-fire 40 off 29 balls against England.