Kevin Pietersen is a Virat Kohli fan!

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen is all praise for India captain Virat Kohli after the latter led his team to a huge win over England at Lord’s in second Test.

Kohli has once again proved why he’s right up there when the cricket fraternity looks up at some of the best skippers in the sport’s history.

The Chase Master is nearing his 33rd birthday and doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down.

After India won the Lord’s Test by 151 runs, Pietersen showered praise on the Indian captain in his latest column.

“Knowing Virat Kohli the way that I do, I know the huge impetus he puts on following in the footsteps of his heroes. His heroes are Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and other legends of Test match cricket.”

“You can see by his enthusiasm, intensity, and the way he rallies his troops. Test cricket still means everything to him,” Pietersen said.

The 41-year-old was spot on when it comes to Kohli’s goals. The Indian captain has time and again stressed the importance of red-ball cricket throughout his career.

While he was not able to perform extremely well with the bat against England, his ferocious and animated character did the job in the second inning.

Kohli was pumped up, chanting every now and then and tempting the Englishmen to play rash shots and gift the visitors their scalps.

He took two great catches in the slip and ensured his full support to bowlers.

While Pietersen loved the ideology Kohli has and his passion for the game, former England opener Nick Compton feels otherwise.

The Englishman said that Kohli often crosses the line when it comes to on-field altercations.

“I do agree (others do it as well). (James) Anderson’s got his ways. It’s not just Kohli, I am not saying that. But his language is quite excessive. Anderson will do things in a different way. Kohli’s way is to get very abusive.”

“He has got a good array of swear words that he uses. We don’t want to throw stones on this player and that player, otherwise, we get into a big argument,” Compton said.

He clarified that Indian players should always respond back to sledges during the game, but things should not be responded to with excessive reactions.

“Indian players must give it back (to England). I am not saying they shouldn’t be aggressive. I think (Ravindra) Jadeja has got that in him. I think that you do get a good mixture within the team.”

“There are different ways to being aggressive. Kohli can probably do it in a more intelligent way, without having these abusive fights. Sometimes the best way is to say nothing and go out there and get a hundred,” he added.

Nonetheless, Compton admired what the Indian skipper brings to the game being the modern great that he is. He admitted that he admires Virat Kohli as a player, but his “leadership is sometimes overemotional”.

“But I think he has brought a lot to cricket. It is important that characters are brought in. You don’t want the match referee stepping in every time everyone says something,” Compton said.