Virat Kohli has been a mentor to the cricket community: Marcus Stoinis

Marcus Stoinis heaped praise on his former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate Virat Kohli for being an inspiration to budding cricketers around the world.

The Australian all-rounder, who is plying his trade for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), hailed Kohli for breaking into a star-studded Indian team at a young age and going on to lead them to commendable heights.

"We've known each other for a long time. We've got a mutual friend in Perth that has known him for a long time as well. So that's sort of how that relationship started. But yeah, what a great career it's been so far. It's definitely not finished," Stoinis was quoted as saying by India Today.

"It seems like he's worn a few caps throughout his career in terms of being the young guy coming into an Indian team that forced his way in there at such a young age and showed such confidence in himself to crack into such a good team to then leading the team and almost changing the whole culture of Indian cricket and inspiring a lot of the young cricketers around India and around the world," he added.

The star cricketer also highlighted Kohli's incredible fitness journey, reiterating that the 36-year-old is still one of the fittest cricketers in the world.

"And then a whole new phase of the fitness side of things as well that he inspired in the Indian set-up to now mentoring the new kids on the block. And he's got his family now as well. I think all of those phases have served a purpose, not only for himself, but as a mentor for the wider public and the cricket community. So always hats off to him, to be honest," he added.

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Brilliant to see how fearless Indian cricketers are: Stoinis

Stoinis also lauded the talent in Indian cricket and mentioned how the IPL has provided a fantastic platform for youngsters to showcase their exemplary skills and test themselves under pressure.

"There's great depth here (in Indian cricket)_. There always has been. And I think they're getting the chance to show their skills on a world stage...They are super confident. They've had almost the advantage of growing up with IPL, being under pressure from early stages in their career. It's brilliant to see how fearless they are with their cricket and especially (while playing for) Indian cricket (team)," Stoinis said.

Both PBKS and RCB have got off to winning starts in IPL 2025. While Punjab defeated Gujarat Titans by 11 runs, Bengaluru thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets.