Former India cricketer Sourav Ganguly lavished praise on Virat Kohli despite his nightmare run of form in Test cricket over the last few months and labelled him a once-in-a-lifetime cricketer. Ganguly compared the Indian cricketer superstar to Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami.

The ex-Indian captain delivered the ultimate praise on the 36-year-old and labelled him as the greatest white-ball cricketer to ever play the game. Ganguly made the comments during an event organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to feliciate state players in Kolkata on Tuesday (January 20). Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, and Mohammed Shami were also in attendance.

“Virat Kohli is a once-in-a-lifetime cricketer. Like Jhulan (Goswami) and Mithali (Raj) are, in men’s cricket Virat Kohli is a once-in-a-lifetime player. To score 80 international centuries in a career is something unbelievable. For me, he’s probably the greatest white-ball player the world has seen,” said Ganguly.

Kohli has the most centuries in ODI cricket history with 50 tons to his name, which is one more than Sachin Tendulkar (49). He is the third-highest run-getter in both ODI and T20I cricket history.

However, Ganguly was surprised by Kohli’s poor returns in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy despite starting the series with a ton in India’s victory in the Perth Test. The ex-Indian captain made just 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75.

“I was really surprised by the way he batted after getting a hundred in Perth. He struggled before that here, but after that hundred in Perth, I thought it’d be a big series for him, but it happens. Every player in the world has his weaknesses and strengths. There’s no player in the world who won’t have that. It’s [about] how you adapt your weaknesses as you play great bowlers over a period of time,” said Ganguly.

Ganguly expressed confidence that Kohli still has a lot of cricket left in him but warned the tour of England from June will be a big challenge.

“I still believe there’s a lot of cricket left in Virat Kohli. The tour of England will be a big challenge for him. I am not too worried about his form in the Champions Trophy because like I said, he’s the best white-ball player the world has seen for a long time,” Ganguly stated.