Pakistan batter Khurram Manzoor has made a dramatic U-turn on comments about talismanic India batter Virat Kohli.
A few days ago, he made a stunning claim that he was a better player than Virat Kohli, leading to his brutal trolling on social media platforms.
“I am not comparing myself with Virat Kohli. Fact is, in 50-overs cricket, whoever are there in the top-10, I am the world no.1. After me stands Kohli. My conversion rate in List A cricket is better than him. He scores a century every six innings. I score century every 5.68 innings. And based on my average of 53, over the last 10 years, I am ranked fifth in the world in List A cricket. I also have scored 24 centuries in the last 48 innings. Between 2015 and now, whoever has opened for Pakistan, I still remain the leading scorer among them. I am also the top scorer and century getter in national T20. Yet I get ignored. And nobody has ever given me a solid reason for that,” Khurram Manzoor had said on Nadir Ali’s YouTube channel.
Khurram Manzoor’s tall claims, however, proved to be untrue as he has only 7922 runs in 166 List A matches at an average of 53.52. His figures in those games also include 27 centuries.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli has amassed 14251 runs in 305 List A games at an average of 56.55, which is much higher than Khurram Manzoor’s. Besides, Virat Kohli has 50 tons to his name in such games, 23 more than the Pakistan batter.
Khurram Manzoor’s self-praise didn’t go down with Virat Kohli supporters who mocked him on social media.
Some poked fun at him, declaring that the people who play on the terrace of their homes have much better statistics than Virat Kohli and hence should be declared the modern-day greats.
Besides the Indian cricket team’s admirers, ex-Pakistan captain Salman Butt lashed out at Khurram Manzoor for stating that he was the best batter in the world, ahead of Virat Kohli.
“He said that his conversion rate in better than Kohli in List A cricket, which is fair enough. But, one thing is missing here; Kohli has played more than 250 games (in ODIs), and has better conversion rate in international cricket. You can’t draw a comparison here as there is no international cricket is miles ahead of domestic cricket. It’s irrelevant,” Salman Butt said on his YouTube channel while highlighting the 34-year-old Indian star’s daunting record in international cricket.
Now the 36-year-old has clarified his remarks, agreeing that “Virat Kohli has now taken the record away from him”.
“Its funny how some media outlets and individuals have taken my interview out of context and twisted my words. Virat Kohli is a generational player and I have always admired him as the best. I talked about this stat in List A Cricket about having best innings per hundred ratio where I am topping the chart and Kohli is on second. There is no comparison between me and him, he has played more games and that too mostly on international level,” he tweeted.
Earlier, this month, Virat Kohli broke a slew of world records during his masterful unbeaten 166-run-knock off 110 deliveries against Sri Lanka.
Virat Kohli now has 20 Player of the Series awards to his name in international cricket, the same as Sachin Tendulkar. If we bifurcate their numbers further, Virat Kohli has claimed 3 Man of the Series trophies in Tests, 10 in ODIs, and 7 in T20Is.
Talking about the Little Master’s figures, he grabbed 5 in red-ball cricket while the other 15 came in the 50-over format. He won none in T20Is.
With his 166 not out against the islanders, Virat Kohli now has the most unbeaten 150+ scores (5) in the history of ODIs.
The ton was his 21st at home in the second-longest format of the sport, taking him clear of Sachin Tendulkar’s previous tally of 20.
During his sensational innings, Virat Kohli also overtook Sri Lanka legend Mahela Jayawardene to occupy the fifth spot among the highest run-getters in ODIs.
Moreover, Virat Kohli is the quickest to amass 46 centuries in ODI cricket – a milestone he achieved in just 259 innings. On the other hand, the previous record holder Sachin Tendulkar needed 431 innings to get there.
This was his 10th century against Sri Lanka, making him the first man to score that many tons against a single team in ODIs. Previously, Virat Kohli had made nine centuries each against Sri Lanka and West Indies, while Sachin Tendulkar had scored the same number of tons against Australia.
With 12,809 runs, Virat Kohli is now only behind Sachin Tendulkar (18,426), Kumar Sangakkara (14,234), Ricky Ponting (13,704), and Sanath Jayasuriya (13,430).
Follow Us
Subscribe