Former British Prime Minister David Cameron praised Indian cricket team star batter Virat Kohli as an “extraordinary leader” at the NDTV World Summit. Cameron was asked to choose his favourite Indian cricketer and he went on to shower praise on Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli. He started by saying that he is so old that he grew up watching the legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi and also recalled watching Rahul Dravid score a brilliant century in England. He went on to say that in Virat, India had an extraordinary leader and he showed incredible captaincy and inspiration on the field.

“I am so old that I grew up watching Bishan Bedi. I remember watching Rahul Dravid score a brilliant century in the UK. I remember sitting with John Major who is another Conservative Prime Minister who said – Watch this guy, he is very very good,” Cameron said.

“I think in Virat Kohli, you had an extraordinary leader. Sometimes, you can see, as we have done with Ben Stokes as our captain, just incredible captaincy on the field and inspiration. I think you had that with Virat Kohli. So lots of great cricket players to watch. Obviously, some great British-Indian players coming through. In the years to come, you will see many British-Indian players coming through and taking on India and hopefully winning,” the former British Prime Minister added.

Earlier, Virat Kohli joined an elite group of cricketers by scoring his 9,000th run in Test matches during a fluent 70 on day three of the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru.

Kohli, who batted at No. 3 for the second time in this Test, turned the tables after being dismissed for a duck in the first innings on October 17.

Prior to this match, Kohli had last batted at No. 3 in 2016 and had a modest average of 19.40 in that position. However, he showcased his class in the second innings, notching up his first Test half-century since December 2023. Alongside Sarfaraz Khan, Kohli forged a crucial partnership of 136 runs that revived India’s innings.

Needing 53 runs to surpass the 9,000-run mark, Kohli reached his half-century off 70 balls, featuring five boundaries and a majestic six off Ajaz Patel. He then carefully accumulated the additional three runs needed to reach the milestone, taking a further nine balls.

According to Wisden, Kohli became the 18th player to score 9,000 runs in Test cricket and joined Joe Root and Steve Smith as the only active players in this exclusive club.

He also became the fourth Indian to achieve this feat, following in the footsteps of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sunil Gavaskar.

(With ANI inputs)