Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra compared Virat Kohli with Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson during the India vs New Zealand ODI cricket match in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Chopra was speaking about Kohli being the fastest to score 14,000 runs in ODI cricket. The comparison was made during his commentary on JioHotstar.
Chopra also mentioned that Kohli was the fastest batter to score previous milestones: 13K, 12K, 11K, 10K and so on. According to Chopra, Kohli is running a solo race. That was when Chopra compared Kohli with Johnson, who had a famous rivalry with another legend, Carl Lewis.
However, Sunil Gavaskar did not like the comparison. “Don’t compare Kohli with Ben Johnson. Wo to pakde gaye the (He was caught),” he said.
In the 1987–88 season, he was the world’s fastest man, setting 100m and 60m indoor world records. He won gold in the 100m at the 1987 World Championships and the 1988 Olympics but was disqualified for doping and lost his medals.
Aakash Chopra was quick to realise his mistake and compared Kohli with Usain Bolt instead. Suresh Raina, who was also commentating along with Chopra and Gavaskar at that time, said Kohli should be compared to Milkha Singh instead.
Virat Kohli’s milestone
Virat Kohli played his 300th ODI for India on Sunday during the ICC Champions Trophy match against New Zealand. He is the 7th Indian and 18th player overall to reach this milestone. Coincidentally, he also played his 200th ODI against New Zealand, making this achievement even more special.
Virat Kohli was dismissed by a stunning one-handed catch from Glenn Phillips at point. Even Kohli was shocked by the spectacular grab. His wife, Anushka Sharma, was watching the game at the stadium. The Bollywood actress looked equally surprised by Phillips’ incredible effort.
