"He’s batting really well not just the last month but since the 2011 World Cup,” said Dilshan while speaking to Indian media from Colombo, on Monday.
“He is scoring heavily and enjoying a great form. He’s one of the best young players I’ve ever seen. For me, if he continues to bat like this then it's not easy to get him out,” he added further.
Virat Kohli has been experiencing a boom period since January this year and has scored 1026 runs from 16 matches played so far in 2012, including five centuries and three half-centuries. Four of the Kohli’s five tons scored so far this year, had come against the Islanders, in Australia, Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka.
The 23-year-old Delhi lad was the leading run scorer in the recently concluded five-match ODI series against the Islanders, plundering 296 runs, including two centuries, at an impressive average of 74.00. He also scored a match winning half-century (68) in the one-off T20 International at Pallekele, which the tourists won by 39 runs.
Dilshan, who has had a nightmarish skippering experience last year, admitted that the meteoric rise in Kohli’s form has prompted his team to devise a game plan against him, ahead of next month’s World T20 Championship.
"We’re not meeting them in the first round. If we’ve to meet India in the Super Eights or the semifinals then we have to plan against him," Dilshan told PTI from Colombo.
The Sri Lankan opener conceded that their plans against the belligerent batsman failed during the 1-4 ODI series loss to India.
“He’s a fantastic player and playing really good cricket at the moment. [But] Twenty20 is a different format as compared to 50-over," he added further.
The latest edition of World T20 championship gets underway in Hambantota, on September 18. Sri Lanka have been drafted in Group C alongside South Africa and Zimbabwe, while India have been placed in Group A, along with defending champions England and Afghanistan.
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