“As an Indian great, I would rate him just behind Sachin” - Courtney Walsh makes big statement on Virat Kohli

West Indian fast bowling legend Courtney Walsh has stated that he would rate batter Virat Kohli only behind Sachin Tendulkar among India’s greatest cricketers.

Kohli is playing in his landmark 500th international match in the ongoing Test against West Indies at Port of Spain in Trinidad. The 34-year-old made a significant contribution on Day 1 of the Test on Thursday, July 20, scoring an unbeaten 87 off 161 balls.

Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja (36*) added an unbroken 106 for the fifth wicket as India reached a healthy 288/4 at stumps.

Praising Kohli, Walsh said on JioCinema:

"Well, as an Indian great, I would rate him just behind Sachin. Sachin is one of the greatest I have seen and played against.”

While sharing his thoughts on the greatest players from across nations, he added that Kohli will feature in his top five.

"Brian Lara, Viv Richards, I will put them up from a West Indian point of view. Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh - two gentlemen I played when I was a youngster, Graham Gooch from England, and Javed Miandad. But the value they put on their wickets reminded me of Virat Kohli as well, he doesn't want to go. So I will definitely have him in my top 4, top 5 greatest cricketers I have seen,” Walsh continued.

Kohli made a significant contribution in the first Test against West Indies in Dominica as well, scoring a hard-fought 76 off 182 balls.

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“You could tell that he wants to be the best” - Walsh recalls interaction with Kohli

Walsh, who claimed 519 wickets from 132 Tests, also recalled an interaction he had with Kohli when he was the selector of the West Indies team. Sharing details of their chat, he said that the Indian batter appeared as someone who wanted to be the best.

Walsh commented:

"He has got the passion for the game; he wants to leave a mark in the game. I remember having a conversation with him when I was the selector for West Indies, and he was the captain. We were having a chat. You could tell that he wants to be the best. He was willing to seek out advice from anyone that will help to do so. I am not surprised by the achievement - the passion he has and the drive he has to be the top 3, top 5 in everything he does.”

Heading into his 500th international game, Kohli had scored 25,461 runs across formats at an average of 53.48, with 75 hundreds and 131 fifties.