Be like Virat: Pakistan cricketing greats hail Kohli, ask their batsmen to respect conditions

Karachi: Former Pakistan players Hanif Muhammad, Javed Miandad and Muhammad Yousuf have praised India’s Virat Kohli for playing a sensible and mature innings on a difficult pitch against a top bowling attack to guide his side to victory over the arch-rivals in the Asia Cup. The three greats said Pakistani batsmen also needed to show the same game sense in the Asia Cup as Kohli had done in Saturday’s match. “All this talk about power hitting is fine but you have to learn to bat according to the conditions and opposition. Our batsmen need to give respect to the bowlers and conditions where necessary. They didn’t do this against India and paid the price,” Hanif Muhammad said in an interview. [caption id=“attachment_2647014” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Virat Kohli put up a batting masterclass to counter Mohammad Amir’s onslaught. AFP[/caption] He said Kohli had played a very mature innings in difficult conditions and it didn’t surprise him. “For years now India have produced a line of fine batsmen starting with Sunil Gavaskar and now Kohli. Because of the number of top batsmen they are producing Indian youngsters also gain inspiration from them,” he said. He noted that Indian youngsters had gained lot of inspiration from the feats of Sachin Tendulkar. Miandad said Pakistani batsmen needed to improve themselves technically and learn to be apply themselves and be patient. “No number of coaches can teach a batsman how to bat at the international level. It is for the individual to work on his game and gain inspiration and guidance from top players,” Miandad said. He said nowadays with so many facilities available to them like instant video analysis he was surprised the Pakistani batsmen were not showing more consistency. “I think the Indian batsmen work very hard on their own game and are hungry for runs. Kohli is an example.” The former captain noted that once a player graduates into the national team it is his own responsibility to develop game sense and improve his technique and skills. Muhammad Yousuf said Kohli had shown how to bat on a testing track. “Whenever our batsmen play on flat tracks they are scoring runs but falter on pitches with some movement. Batsmen from every country struggle on pitches where bowlers get assistance but top players learn to adjust and improve their technique to counter these things. Our batsmen lack this.” Yousuf said the Pakistan think tank really needed to look into this problem or the team would face many problems on coming Test tours to England and Australia. PTI