While highlighting a number of stars at the tournament so far, including the likes of Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra and South Africa’s Quinton De Kock and Aiden Markram, Richards singled out Kohli as his standout performer at the world’s greatest cricket showcase.
“There have been a whole host of talented individuals on show but to top them all, you cannot look past Virat Kohli,” Richards said.
“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,” he added.
Kohli, who turned 35 during the tournament, is currently third on the leading run-scorers table behind Ravindra and De Kock with 543 runs from eight innings with two centuries and four fifties at an average of 108.60.
His last hundred, an unbeaten 101* against South Africa, saw him equal the great Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Kohli in recent times, however.
From December 2019 to December last year, Kohli only recorded one international hundred, 122* in a T20I in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan in Dubai in September 2022.
His form has since returned back to normal, with seven hundreds between December 2022 and now.
“Virat will have been through some tough times before this World Cup and some folks were even brave enough to call for his head,” Richards acknowledged.
“Credit must be given to the backroom staff and everyone who backed him. So much was said about his form but he is back on top of his game. It is phenomenal to see an individual who has had his low points bouncing back and playing like this. They say form is temporary – and he has certainly proven that class is permanent. I am so happy for him, he looks so focused and he is a credit to the game of cricket,” Richards added.
Richards then credited Kohli’s mental strength as what sets him apart from the rest, noting the many comparisons made between the two over the years.
“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,” he said.
“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 added.
India are the form team in this year’s tournament and are currently unbeaten through eight games in the league phase and Richards believes that if they play the same way, there’s no stopping them in pursuit of their third World Cup title.
“In terms of this year’s competition, India have a mindset that they can go all the way playing like this. That absolutely should be their mindset and would be mine if I was in that dressing room – let’s go out with all guns blazing. That approach has worked so far and if that changes, things may go astray,” he said.
“I believe they can go all the way unbeaten, which is really something to strive for. There may be some fears of ‘we have played so well so far, there may be a bad game around the corner in the semi-final’. They have to try and nullify those and banish any negative thoughts,” Richards added.
