"One of the greatest" - Eoin Morgan hails Virat Kohli's intensity that elevates entire team

England National Cricket Team World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan has showered rich praise on the India National Cricket Team star batsman Virat Kohli. Morgan said that the Indian batting maestro is one of the greatest all-format players in the modern era of cricket.

Kohli is unarguably the face of cricket and he has dominated with his performances across the globe. Virat Kohli, who is the most followed cricketer in the world, has slammed 26733 runs in international cricket along with 80 centuries.

He has not played competitive cricket since January 2024 as he took a break to spend time with his family for the birth of his second child. Kohli last played an international match for India against Afghanistan on January 17 in Bengaluru. He was making his comeback to the T20I setup in that series after being out of the scheme of things since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

After the Afghanistan T20Is, India locked horns with England in a high-voltage five-match Test series at home. Many expected Kohli to set the stage on fire in his favorite format against the Bazballing England, but he pulled out of the first two Tests, before making himself unavailable for the series entirely.

India National Cricket Team didn’t miss Kohli in the series as the youngsters stepped up in his absence and guided India to a 4-1 win after a defeat in the first Test in Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, Eoin Morgan has said that Kohli acts as an inspiration to his team and his intensity elevates the energy of the players.

“I highly regard him as one of the greatest of the modern era, across all three formats. When you have a player of that calibre in your side, it’s crucial that you’re constantly asking him to get the best out of himself,” Eoin Morgan told Star Sports.

“It brings a huge ceiling, as we’ve seen in the past. The level of inspiration and intensity that he brings lifts everybody within the group.”

You talked about the side on the field, but he’s very calm off the field – Mike Hesson on Virat Kohli

Mike Hesson, who worked along with Virat Kohli at the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for years, revealed that the batting superstar is a very calm personality off the field. Hesson also said that Kohli always tries to spend time with the youngsters and overseas players at RCB.

“You talked about the side on the field, but he’s very calm off the field. When youngsters come into the team or overseas players, he’d spend time getting to know them.

“This was after he was a captain (of RCB) as well. It’s not a captain thing. It’s a genuine want to share and communicate about things other than cricket,” said Hesson.”

Virat Kohli is all set to make his comeback to competitive cricket in the IPL 2024. He will reportedly join the RCB camp before March 17. The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 is set to start on March 22 with the clash between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Chepauk.