Herschelle Gibbs reacts to a video of Virat Kohli calling him as his favourite batsman during U19 days

Virat Kohli is presently being deemed as one of the greatest batters in the modern era. Such has been his dominance that many pundits reckon him to take apart a number of records, including those of Sachin Tendulkar. However, his formative years date back to around 2008, the very year when the Delhi-born captained the India U19 team to glory in the World Cup in Malaysia.

During that tournament, Kohli scored a sparkling century versus the West Indies. At that point in time, very few would’ve predicted that the same batter would go on to plunder runs in all three formats. India managed to beat South Africa, captained by Wayne Parnell, in the final. In the same year, he went on to don the national jersey in Sri Lanka and he hasn’t looked back since.

During the U19 World Cup, whenever someone came to bat, an introduction video used to come up. Even Virat had one where he talked about his attributes and his favourite cricketer. The then Young Turk used the introduce himself, saying. “Virat Kohli, captain, right-handed middle-order batsman, right-arm quick bowler and my favourite cricketer is Herschelle Gibbs.”

In the meantime, a Twitter handle by the name of ‘Not that Vinay’ uploaded the video of Virat’s introduction. He tagged Gibbs and wrote, “Virat learnt from you.” Gibbs didn’t miss out on the message. He replied to the fan and wrote, “Smiley and thumbs up emoji- ok then,”

Here is Herschelle Gibbs reply to the video

Herschelle Gibbs- A destructive batsman of his generation

Gibbs was the first batsman to smack six sixes in an over in a One Day International. The Cape Town-born accomplished the feat while facing leg-spinner Dan van Bunge in the 2007 World Cup at Basseterre. Apart from that, he has 35 centuries and 66 half-centuries at the highest level. The right-hander notched over 14,000 runs for the national team over 361 matches.

He made his international debut way back in October 1996 in an ODI versus India in Nairobi. His last competitive match was for the St Lucia Zouks in the inaugural edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) way back in 2013.

Watch: 10 Expensive cars owned by Indian cricketers