Kohli is the paradigm shift in cricket: Arun Lal

Former cricketer Arun Lal lauded Test skipper Virat Kohli saying he has triggered a paradigm shift in cricket and raised the bar for budding cricketers.

Kohli has been in terrific form of late. He scored four centuries in the recently held Indian Premier League (IPL) and then followed it up with a double ton in the first innings of the first Test against the West Indies, which is presently underway at Antigua.

"Virat Kohli is the paradigm shift. He has taken the bar, the level up for every budding cricketer. He is a game changer, like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly," Lal told reporters here on Saturday at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) annual awards ceremony where he was the Chief Guest.

"It is a great honour for me to come here as the Chief Guest," he said.

Lal, who was instrumental in Bengal winning the Ranji trophy in the 1989-1990 season also said that there is no substitute for hard work, adding that talent is "overrated".

"Charles Paddock (athlete) was short and people told him he could never win the 100 meters. But he believed in himself, he left his native place, sacked his coach and worked really hard. He went onto win the gold medal in the 100 meters sprint in the Olympics in 1920. His secret was: If you can, you can. My advice to all the youngsters will be to work hard and believe in oneself," he said.

The 60-year-old added CAB president Ganguly was the right man to lead the organisation forward.

"He was a great player, he is a great administrator. No one better than him," Lal said.

Lal played in 16 Tests and 13 One-Day Internationals for India.

--IANS

dd/tri/bg