Sourav Ganguly hails Virat Kohli 'once-in-a-lifetime' cricketer despite his lean patch in Test cricket
Despite Virat Kohli’s future in Tests having been questioned as he had scored just one century in his last 11 matches, Sourav Ganguly reserved a highest praise for the 36-year-old.

Former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has lavished praise on batting legend Virat Kohli despite his struggles in Test format over the last few months. Kohli’s future in the longest format of the game became a topic of debate once again after the star batter struggled to make an impact in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where India failed to defend the title for the first time in 10 years after losing 1-3 series to Australia.
Despite Virat Kohli’s future in Tests having been questioned as he had scored just one century in his last 11 matches, Ganguly reserved a highest praise for the 36-year-old. Speaking at the event organized by Cricket Association of Bengal in Kolkata, the former Indian skipper labelled him as ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ cricketer and compared him to the likes of Indian cricket stalwarts Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj. He added that Virat Kohli is the ‘greatest white-ball’ cricketer the world has witnessed.
“Virat Kohli is a once-in-a-lifetime cricketer. Like Jhulan (Goswami) and Mithali (Raj) are [for women’s cricket], in men’s cricket, Kohli is a once-in-a-lifetime player. To score 80 international centuries in a career is something unbelievable. For me, he’s probably the greatest white-ball player the world has seen.” Ganguly said.
Kohli’s record in white-ball cricket is far better than his Tests record. Indian batting stalwart has amassed 13906 runs, including 50 centuries and 72 fifties, at an average of 58.18 in 295 ODI matches. In T20Is, Kohli has amassed 4188 runs, including a century and 38 fifties, at an average of 48.69 in 125 matches. In white-ball cricket, Kohli is currently only playing the ODI format as he retired from the T20 at the international level following India’s T20 World Cup triumph last year.
‘Surprise’: Ganguly on Kohli’s poor Australia Test tour
Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly expressed his surprise over Virat Kohli’s struggle in the five-match Test series against Australia. The former BCCI president thought that Kohli was eyeing a big series for him after scoring a century in the opening Test in Perth, but that was not to be the case.
“I was really surprised by the way he batted after getting a hundred in Perth. He struggled before that here, but after that hundred in Perth, I thought it’d be a big series for him, but it happens. Every player in the world has his weaknesses and strengths. There’s no player in the world who won’t have that. It’s [about] how you adapt your weaknesses as you play great bowlers over a period of time." Sourav Ganguly said.
Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 100 in the second innings of the Perth Test. Thereafter, he struggled to maintain his consistency as his scores read 7, 11, 3, 36, 5, 17, and 6 in the next 8 innings. In 10 innings, Kohli aggregated 190 runs at an average 23.75.
Also read: Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar at 36: Which batting icon faired better? Stats decoded
Virat Kohli will be looking to get back to his form in the Ranji Trophy match for Delhi against Railways on January 30. For the first time in 12 years, the Indian batting legend will play in India's premier domestic tournament. Kohli ruled himself out of Delhi's clash against Saurashtra on January 23, the beginning of Ranji Trophy second round.

