Kohli’s dismissal puts India 50% out of game: Amir
MUMBAI: If you look at his (Virat Kohli) chasing ratio, he is at the top of the world. He chases well, he performs well under pressure.
MOHD AMIR, On Virat Kohli’s utility
The rivalry between India skipper Virat Kohli and Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir has proved to be a mouth-watering clash for fans. The tragedy though is that India and Pakistan face off only in an ICC event of late; with their last encounter being in the Champions Trophy in England in June.
In the two matches in the ICC Champions Trophy, India continued their domination in the first but Pakistan’s bowlers, led by Amir, tore through the famed batting line-up to help Pakistan win the tournament for the first time.
Amir has always enjoyed bowling to Indian captain Virat Kohli, who has not only praised the left-arm seamer, but also gifted him one of his bats to strengthen their friendship.
In a recent interview with ESPNCricinfo, Amir revealed how he had set up Virat Kohli to help Pakistan get rid of the Indian top three, paving the way for their win.
“Everybody knows if you get Kohli, India is 50 per cent out of the game. Until he is at the crease, India’s chances of winning are 70-80 per cent. If you look at his chasing ratio, he is at the top of the world. He chases well, he performs well under pressure. So our plan was to get their top order — (Shikhar) Dhawan, (Rohit) Sharma, Kohli, the guys who were scoring the runs,” Amir said.
Talking about how he got rid of Kohli even after the Indian captain was dropped earlier off his bowling, Amir said, “When Kohli was dropped, I thought half the game was gone to be honest. Ninety per cent of the time, you give him a chance, he gets a hundred. In my mind, I thought he’ll be ready for my inswinger, because the previous ball had been an outswinger. So I thought, 80-90 per cent he would be ready for an inswinger. But I wanted to bowl at him in the same area, and move it away again,” he said.
“If you look at the clips of it, you can see he shaped to play it to leg, he moved to play it to on [side], thinking I was going to bring it in. My thinking was that if I bowl again in the same area, the same ball going away, he might go to play it thinking it is coming in, and edge it to slip again, but it went with the angle to point,” Amir revealed.
Kohli fell for five and despite Hardik Pandya’s heroic 43-ball 76, India were bundled out for 158 and Pakistan won by 180 runs.