Many cricket fans and experts consider Team India’s Virat Kohli among the best batters. Making his debut for India in 2008, he has since been a run machine across all formats, drawing comparisons to cricket greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Sir Vivian Richards. His stellar record reflects the excellence of the former captain of India. In 104 Test matches, he has scored 27 centuries and 28 half-centuries. With 46 hundred and 64 half-centuries, Virat Kohli has a phenomenal record in the ODIs. The 34-year-old also holds the record for most runs scored in T20Is, with 4,008 runs across 115 games. Like him, a few young players were hyped as the “next Kohli,” but they ultimately fell short of expectations.
1. Ahmed Shehzad
The 31-year-old Pakistan batsman, Ahmed Shehzad, was a part of the 2008 U19 World Cup that sparked Kohli’s international career. Shehzad had a good tournament, hitting 136 runs at an average of 34, while Kohli led India to victory with 235 runs at an average of 47.
Shehzad debuted in Pakistan in 2009. Once upon a time, he was the most well-known cricketer in the world. He scored a hundred off 58 balls in the 2014 T20 World Cup, making him the first player from Pakistan to reach triple digits in T20Is. His career-highest score in Test cricket was 176, achieved in the same year against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi. In 25 ODIs between January 2015 and October 2017, he racked up 690 runs with 6 ODI hundreds. Over the same time frame, Kohli scored 2822 runs in 56 games, including 11 hundred.
2. Unmukt Chand
Unmukt Chand, like Kohli, another Delhi native, snagged headlines for leading India to victory in the U19 World Cup. He scored 246 runs in 6 matches at the 2012 tournament in Australia. India won the U19 World Cup after Chand scored an unbeaten 111 in the final. Kohli comparisons were inevitable. His first Ranji Trophy hundred came in his fourth match. He played his first IPL match at 18. He was expected to rule the IPL, but nothing much happened. Unmukt Chand’s runs quickly dried up. Chand retired from Indian cricket at 28 years in August 2021. Before calling it, Chand played in 67 first-class matches, scoring 3,379 runs (8 hundred, 16 fifties) at a 31.57 batting average.
3. Umar Akmal
During his early years on the international stage, Umar Akmal, another outstanding Pakistan batsman, was often compared to Kohli. Umar’s first appearance on the world stage came in 2009, a year after Kohli’s debut. Umar scored 129 runs and 75 runs in his Test debut against New Zealand when he was just 19 years old. There was a masterclass in fast bowling from the Kiwis, so the performance was even more remarkable. Then, in only his third ODI, he scored his maiden ton against Sri Lanka. The happy times couldn’t continue forever, as he was banned for three years in 2021 by the PCB disciplinary committee after playing for Pakistan for the last time in 2019. The 32-year-old hopes to return to the national squad by performing well for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023.
