‘Best Indian innings ever’
IT WASN’T just one of Virat Kohli’s best knocks but one of the best in India’s history, according to captain Rohit Sharma.
Sunday’s stunning MCG chasedown was vintage Kohli, a punch in the face to any critics still willing to suggest he’s not the batter he was.
A straight six off Haris Rauf in the penultimate over of the epic T20 clash with Pakistan, as Kohli just stood and delivered as only he can, was the stuff of greatness, one of two in a row that came with another in the final over to put his team in a position that no one else could.
Sharma revealed a muchneeded break before the Asia Cup freshened up Kohli, who hadn’t made an international hundred for two years before he belted 122 against Afghanistan in that tournament.
“I honestly don’t think he was struggling with form or anything. He was batting as good as he was, but with him, the expectations is always so high that even if he gets a good 30 or 40, people tend to talk about it,” Sharma said of the former captain’s recent form.
“From the team management perspective, I thought he was in good space right from the Asia Cup where he got a month off and then he came back to Asia Cup. He was fresh, got a brilliant hundred there, got a couple of fifties if I’m not wrong.
“We know the quality that he has, and he’s done so well in these type of conditions in all three forms.
“He used his experience today more than anything else, staying calm under pressure, and we know how good he is when the score is in front of him. He’s one of the best chasers in the world.”
Kohli’s 82 not out, off 53 balls, with four mammoth sixes as exclamation marks when India needed 28 runs off the final eight balls, should go down in Indian history as one of the best ever.
The required run rate had surpassed 15 when he and Hardik Pandya came together in a 113-run partnership to put India in a position for Kohli to take things to another level.
“I think it has to go ... his definitely best for sure, but I think from the situation we were in, and to come out with a victory, I think it has to be one of India’s best knocks, not just his best knock,” Sharma said.
“Because until the 13th over we were so behind the game, and the required rate was just climbing up and up.
“But to come out and chase that score was an extremely brilliant effort from Virat, and then obviously Hardik played a role there, as well.
“When you have guys like those battle in the middle, you always believe that you’re going to get the scores because Hardik has especially batted in that type of situation a lot, and Virat with his experience, with the kind of batsman he is, we always believed that these guys can pull us off from that situation.
“That was good to watch.”