Team India skipper Virat Kohli helped his team post a competitive total in a vital encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan, delivering a fantastic performance.
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Team India skipper Virat Kohli stepped up when his team needed a hero, delivering a fine performance on Sunday against Pakistan in the Super 12 Group 2 encounter of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Kohli accumulated 57 runs off 49 deliveries in an innings comprising of five boundaries and a six. The knock assumes even further importance considering the poor performance of the other batters in the lineup. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma were dismissed cheaply, with Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja dismissed without a significant contribution as well. However, Kohli maintained a resolute attitude to help India post a total of 151/7 in the encounter against India’s arch-rivals.
Kohli further became the first player to accumulate 500 runs against Pakistan in ICC events. The Team India skipper achieved this unique distinction following his performance in the Super 12 Group 2 encounter. The 32-year-old reached the milestone after reaching a personal score of 26, having been sent in to bat by Pakistan skipper Babar Azam who won the toss. Kohli had accumulated scores of 16, 9, 78, 22, 36, 107, 55, 81*, 5, 77 in clashes against India’s arch-rivals in ICC events previously.
Shaheen Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan, accounting for three wickets. While he conceded 31 runs with the final over quite expensive, it was all worth it from his team’s viewpoint. Hasan Ali accounted for two dismissals as well, but leaked 44 runs.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam opted to field after winning the toss. Babar stated that his players will be looking to take early wickets and put pressure on the Indian batsmen.
“We are going to bowl first. We’ll look to take early wickets and put pressure. Dew is also a factor. We have had good practice sessions and am confident about our preparations. Pakistan’s bowlers are known to trouble other teams but I am confident about our batting too. Haider Ali is left out,” he stated as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Kohli admitted that he would have opted to field as well, but expressed happiness having been asked to set the target.
“We are pretty happy with setting the target. Would have bowled first too, but the toss is not in your control. We are pretty balanced with our squad and you need to be prepared for it. Need to stay as professional as possible. We need to stay focussed on the processes. Everyone watches it closely all over the world. We can use that as a motivation, but we need to ensure we don’t get too emotional and need to just stay professional. The pitch looks very different. Evenly rolled and there is no grass at all which was the case during the IPL, and I’m sure that was done to hold it together well for the World Cup. We expect the pitch to stay good all through and set a good total. The four not playing are: Rahul Chahar, Ishan Kishan, Ashwin and Thakur,” stated the Team India skipper.
