Clive Llyod on Virat crossing Sachin's 100 centuries in international cricket

KOLKATA: Former West Indies skipper Clive Llyod on Friday said that star India batter Virat Kohli can achieve anything he wants, including breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record of 100 international cricket centuries. Llyod was in Kolkata for an event.

On Virat's pursuit of 100 international centuries, currently at 80 centuries, Llyod told the media, "I do not know about the period, but he is young enough and I am sure that the way he is playing he can achieve anything he wants to achieve and it would be something to be quite happy to achieve."

Llyod also talked about the health of the Test cricket format, saying that he would prefer more long format matches happening and three/five Test match series being played instead of two.

"At the moment probably they are having too many T20s and stuff. I would like to see a little bit more Test cricket. And if you are playing Test cricket, I would prefer three Test matches or five matches. I do not think the West Indies should travel to Australia, 12,000 miles, for two Test matches. It does not make sense. Like the other day, it is one-all (in the India vs South Africa series). Now the other Test would have shown who was the better of the two teams," he added.

The recently concluded India-South Africa Test series met immense criticism from former cricketers and fans for featuring only two Tests. The two-match Test series between West Indies and Australia will start from January 17 onwards.

Talking further about Test cricket, Llyod said "T20 is an exhibition while Test cricket is an examination". "Our youngsters seem to be getting this habit of trying to hit the ball out of the ground so that they can get a contract somewhere else. And I do not like that," the 79-year-old added.

Talking about the pitch in Cape Town for the second Test between India and South Africa, which ended in just two days with 642 balls being bowled to make it the shortest Test ever, Llyod said that there was nothing wrong with the pitch, but rather it was about application. He also added that teams playing top-class cricket should be able to handle any pitch.

"I do not think anything was wrong with the pitch. Somebody made a hundred on that same pitch, on a wearing pitch, so I think it is just an application. And I am wondering if that had happened in India, with what they would have done to the ground persons," he said.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday gave an "unsatisfactory" rating to the Newlands pitch in Cape Town following a low-scoring second Test between India and South Africa.

"You know, because if you lose in a day and a bit, the first thing they will look at is the pitch. India had a turning pitch here the other day, and everybody said some terrible things about the pitch. If you are playing top-class cricket, you should be able to handle those sorts of things," Lloyd added.

On the Indian team currently, Llyod said that the team has a balanced side. "They have good spinners and pacers. Some really great batters as well. Their cricket is quite exciting," he added.