Kolkata: Former West Indian cricketer Clive Lloyd is of the view that Virat Kohli can achieve anything considering the way he’s playing. Attending an event here on January 11, the West Indian legend was asked whether Kohli would be able to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries and pat came his reply, "I don't know about the time span, but he's young enough, and I'm sure that the way he's playing, he can achieve anything he wants to achieve, and it would be something to be quite happy to achieve."
The former West Indian cricket skipper was in the city to attend the graduation ceremony of a private college. The two-time World Cup-winning captain also delved into the comparison between Kohli and his ex-teammate Viv Richards. "They are of different types. So any comparison isn't fair," said Lloyd.
A legend who had been in the thick of things when Test cricket called the shots, Lloyd still swears by the longest format of the game. For the Guyanese, T20 is all about glitz and glamour. "Test cricket tests a player's class. It's no easy task to weather the adversities that the five-day format throws. If you really want to pick up the threads of Test cricket, go to England and learn the ropes," said Lloyd.
The leader who took West Indian cricket to exemplary heights during the '70s and early '80s is dejected at the downfall of West Indian cricket - failure to qualify for the 2023 World Cup in India is a bitter pill to swallow, but he is hopeful that the team will make a comeback. "Things will change and the cricket board does understand the exigency of the matter," he quipped.
For Lloyd, a trip to Kolkata is all about nostalgia, but the unpleasant memories of the 1996 World Cup semi-final between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens still haunt. The unruly crowd forced match referee Lloyd to stop the match and award it to Sri Lanka much to the chagrin of Indian fans. And it was like a nightmare for the former West Indian skipper.
Any talk around cricket in the City of Joy is incomplete without the mention of the Prince of Calcutta Sourav Ganguly. And Lloyd holds him in the highest esteem. But he couldn't catch up with Ganguly since the latter is out of town. "I will meet him when I go to England," he said. With ANI inputs
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