West Indies batting incredible Brian Lara on Thursday compared Virat Kohli to a run machine, declaring that the India captain is way ahead of rest of the world when it comes to batting across formats.
Indian batting incredible Sachin Tendulkar remains Lara's record-breaking most loved but in the present era, he said it is Kohli, who is the best.
"He (Virat Kohli) is a (run) machine. But sorry to say Sachin Tendulkar is my (choice)," he said after being conferred the Doctorate in Science (Honours Causa) by the D Y Patil University in Nerul here.
"But getting back to your question, almost certainly there is a huge gap between Virat Kohli and the rest of the world in all types of the game. Rohit Sharma may have four centuries in this World Cup, (Jonny) Bairstow or whatever, on the off chance that you need someone to bat in T20, T10, 100 balls (cricket) or Test cricket, it will be Virat Kohli today, included Lara, who still holds the record for most elevated score in Tests.
Lara, who scored 22358 (11953 in ODIs) in worldwide cricket, said if today Indian batsmen are doing great in away series, it is a direct result of Tendulkar, who imparted such trust in them.
"The (impression) Sachin left on the game is simply mind blowing, since he kind of connected that period, where you felt that when Indian batsman leaves Indian soil, Indian pitches, they are not all that great. In any case, Sachin Tendulkar was great on each surface and the majority of the Indian batsman are great on each and every surface today, I think simply because they took a page out of his (Sachin's) book," added Lara.
Meanwhile, Lara was pained to witness the plight of the Caribbean cricket. The West Indies have already been knocked out of the World Cup semifinal race
"We have been gone to a corner. Each nation, each game group experiences a tad of cycle, yet we appear to be similarly situated for a long while, which is unfortunate."
During the over-hour program, Lara spoke at length about his early days, the contribution of his father, his college days and facing the spin duo of Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne and his relationship with Tendulkar.
