Virat Kohli has the ability to play outside Asia, states Jacques Kallis

Former South African all-rounder and team-mate of the present Indian captain at Royal Challengers Bangalore, Jacques Kallis believes that Virat Kohli has the ability to play well even outside the home. Kohli recently achieved a rare feat of scoring an ODI ton in all 9 nations he has visited.

Even though India holds the mace of ICC Test Championship and is currently rated as the number 1 ODI side in the world, much has been talked about India’s ability to play in foreign conditions of England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

In the recently concluded Test series against South Africa in their own backyard, India lost the 3-match Test series by a margin of 2-0. After losses in the first two Test of the series, India bounced back to win the final Test of the series in a dramatic fashion at Jo’Burg.

Kohli was the only player between the two side to score a century during the series (153 at Centurion) along with an important half-century at Jo’burg, in a low scoring encounter. Kallis believes that the Indian Premier League (IPL) played the role of a catalyst in the development of Kohli as a cricketer.

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“He has progressed magnificently and that was one of the benefits of the IPL. A lot of Indian youngsters get to play with big and world-class players and are benefiting from that too. In the case of Virat Kohli, the IPL may not be the only reason for his development but the development may have happened faster for him. That is great to see, a youngster’s evolution,” replied Jacques Kallis when asked about his evolution as a cricketer, according to his interview with TOI.

When asked if Kohli was the most adaptable amongst the current crop of modern world class batsman, he replied,”The records show for themselves. He has obviously got the record to prove that at home. But yes, he is the one who looks capable of playing away from home pretty decently.”

Having lost the Test series in South Africa, the next foreign assignment for India would be against England in England, where they lost 8 of their last 10 Test matches. Kallis adviced that India should look to prepare bouncy wickets during IPL in order to deal with conditions in England.

“They will be playing on wickets that bounce a lot more than what they are used to back home. It’s an area they need to work on. They need to play on similar wickets at home as well and keep the same group of players. It will not be a bad idea if they can have some bouncy wickets for the IPL,” concluded Kallis.

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