IPL 2022: Virat Kohli is the Cristiano Ronaldo of cricket, says PBKS batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Having missed out on worldwide choice alternatives through the years resulting from health points, highly-rated Sri Lanka batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa is wanting ahead to utilize the Indian Premier League stint to hone his expertise in addition to take some health classes from a number of the finest on the earth.
The 30-year-old, who was purchased by Punjab Kings on the mega public sale, mentioned he’s wanting ahead to catching up with Virat Kohli, whom he believes is the “Cristiano Ronaldo of cricket”. Rajapaksa mentioned he has admired th work ethic of the previous RCB captain.
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Kohli, as identified by Rajapaksa, has been credited for inducing a health revolution within the Indian cricket workforce. The 33-year-old has managed to deal with the calls for of enjoying all three codecs of the sport for near a decade.
“IPL is the best league in the world and with every teammate of yours you get to learn a lot about the game, so I am loving picking the brains of Shikhar Dhawan. I get along very well with Mayank Agarwal as we played U-19 together,” Rajapaksa instructed the Press Trust of India.
“Outside of the team, Virat Kohli is always someone I could speak to and get some advice on fitness. He’s at another different level when it comes to fitness.
“To me, he’s the Cristiano Ronaldo of cricket for certain. The work he places in you’ll be able to clearly see the outcomes. You can evaluate him to anybody in the case of health and even skills-wise. He performs so onerous and you may study rather a lot by speaking to him,” he said.
SKILL vs FITNESS
Rajapaksa announced his international retirement this January and withdrew it a week later on the insistence of authorities. However, he still missed the plane to India due to the same fitness issues, last month.
Rajapaksa made an early impression as he hit a match-winning 44 against RCB, helping PBKS gun down 206 in just 19 overs. The Sri Lankan batter will be hoping to make mark and give captain Mayank and head coach Anil Kumble a selection headache as Jonny Bairstow is expected to take his place when he joins the squad, which is packed with power-hitters.
Meanwhile, Rajapaksa feels he is now doing “all the appropriate issues” as he looks to extend his international career by at least three to four years, elaborating on his call to make a U-turn after announcing retirement.
Rajapaksa is sure that the two-month-long stint with Punjab Kings would benefit his game immensely and take his fitness to the next level.
“As a participant you want your health however it might be completely different from individual to individual. For me, in fact, ability comes first. And then the health, however in case you are not match sufficient you positively cannot carry out.
“I’m actually working hard on my fitness. Whenever I get a free day I hit the gym early in the morning. That there are some fitness requirements to represent the country and with fitness, my international career would be longer.
“I’m hoping to play for the subsequent three to 4 years at the very least and do the perfect for the nation as a result of after my resignation I needed to withdraw it again as a result of I had a few conversations with the technical committee and the Sports Minister as nicely. They needed me to rethink my retirement and I made a decision to withdraw it,” he mentioned.
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