"Best Test player... KOHLI, best ODI player... KOHLI, best T20 player... KOHLI." This was former England captain Michael Vaughan on Twitter after Virat Kohli's 27th ODI hundred helped India pull off a sensational victory in the Pune ODI against England on Sunday.
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Vaughan then asserted, "Kohli is from another planet!" which led to a fan asking Kohli, "Why don't you admit you are an alien?" James Taylor, the former England batsman who was forced to retire last year with a heart condition, put it starkly: "Virat Kohli is the ultimate batsman."
All this is but expected because Kohli indeed has taken batting to a level where the sublime becomes ridiculous because of its monotonous regularity.
The Indian captain is still only 28 and already he is being talked about in terms of having carved out an era, such has been his impact on the game. Having made 2016 his own by smashing bowlers and records in all formats of the game, Kohli began 2017 with a knock which showcased the best of him - supreme technique, searing power, unflagging fitness, unflappable temperament and an unmatched ability to control a game.
Some of the strokes he played during the 122-run masterpiece in front of an enraptured full house at the Gahunje stadium simply took one's breath away. The purity of his strokeplay under such testing circumstances was delightful, but in a profound way. His performances nowadays mimic those of a classical musician who can also keep the hoi polloi in thrall.
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One stroke which stood out on Sunday night was the six he hit off Chris Woakes' slower one immediately after reaching his century. The shot defied the laws of physics as he stood up and launched the ball beyond the mid-on fence, leaving experts searching for an adjective which would do justice to the innovation, audacity and strength which made it possible. It was a stroke only Kohli could envision and pull off. "Shot of an era," proclaimed a fan on Twitter. A zapped Alex Tudor, former England fast bowler, asked: "Did I just see that?" That Kohli has risen above his great bating contemporaries - Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Joe Root - tells its own tale. All are in the prime of their careers and still have many sumptuous years ahead of them. But Kohli has sneaked ahead of the pack through his spectacular consistency. He is not only the biggest name in the game right now, but also the player with the maximum impact on the sport and his team.
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Besides, Kohli has the rare quality of enthusing the purists and the lay fans at the same time. That's why fellow players are in awe, and experts and fans drool over him. His bating is also a work of art in its own way despite he cut and thrust and the innate ferocity. While Smith is very workmanlike, sometimes even ungainly, in a typically Aussie way, both Williamson and Root are classical batsmen whose prowess is based on high technique and skill. But where they fall short of Kohli is in resource unless and winnability across formats. If you ask a bowler today who is the batsman he fears he most, the answer invariably will be Kohli.
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Seldom has cricket seen such a mesmerizing melange of technique, grace, poise, power, attitude, fitness and ambition in one player. The way he is going, Kohli may end up being regarded as the greatest batsman the world has seen after Don Bradman.