India captain Virat Kohli is well ahead of his contemporaries and destined for greatness, former Sri Lankan batting stalwart Kumar Sangakkara has said. Run-machine Kohli capped a memorable 2018 by becoming the first to win the ICC cricketer, Test and ODI player of the year awards last month.

Considered part of the elite group also featuring Kiwi Kane Williamson, Australian Steve Smith and England’s Joe Root, Kohli has surged ahead after a stupendous 2018 and is currently the top-ranked Test as well as ODI batsman. “Everything about Virat’s game stands out. I think he is head and shoulders above anyone else in world cricket today,” Sangakkara said. “And I think going forward, he will be one of the greatest ever cricketers, if not the greatest ever,” said the Sri Lankan batting great.
With 39 centuries from 222 ODI matches, Kohli is second only to compatriot Sachin Tendulkar who scored 49 from 463 in the ODI century makers’ list.

He has also scored 25 hundreds in 77 Tests. Sangakkara is amazed by Kohli’s ability to succeed across formats without tinkering his basic game. “He has this incredible knack of scoring runs and has a very, very solid method that he believes in…” said the former Sri Lanka captain. “… if you see the tempo which he bats with, it hardly changes.