Former India head coach and spin great Anil Kumble heaped praise on Virat Kohli after his magnificent 82 not out off 53 balls against Pakistan in T20 World Cup at a sell-out Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday. The chase master returned to his very best and construct the chase with his grit and resilience and then unleashed himself on the quality Pakistan bowling attack in the slog overs to help India register a thrilling 4-wicket victory.
In his first 24 balls, Kohli made just 15 runs, with no boundaries against his name. But in his last 29 balls, Kohli opened up by soaking the pressure and then exploded by smacking a jaw-dropping 67 runs to re-iterate his status of being one of the finest chasers in white-ball cricket.
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Kumble was highly impressed with the way Kohli constructed his innings and managed to find boundaries in the second half of the chase.
“What Virat has changed in the last two years, to what we are seeing him do now, is that change in his mind in terms of when to get those boundaries towards the second half of his game and that’s exactly what he did."
“He did that to Shadab (Khan), he did that to (Mohammad) Nawaz, he hit a six after Hardik (Pandya) had hit a six. He realised that over (12th over from Nawaz that went for 20 runs) had to be a big over and that’s where the momentum shifted (for him)," said Kumble on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out show after the match ended.
Kohli and Hardik Pandya shared an outstanding partnership of 113 runs for the fifth wicket to lead the team to victory. Pandya backed up his spell of 3/30 in four over with 40 off 37 balls, falling at the start of the final over to left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz.
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The legendary spinner further said that Kohli’s innings was played to perfection and also lauded Pandya to soak in the pressure during their partnership.
“I thought it (the innings of Kohli) was (played) to perfection because Hardik was at the other end and Hardik took all the pressure in those middle overs, hitting key boundaries, especially to the spinners. That had been sort of his bane a couple of years ago. Especially in the middle overs, hitting boundaries, hitting sixes to spinners."
In the final over, where India needed 16 to win, Nawaz bowled two wides and gave away a no-ball as well as three byes as Ravichandran Ashwin got the winning runs with a loft over mid-off.
Kumble felt Nawaz had deviated from his usual strengths, and hinted at the final over he bowled against India in Asia Cup League match in Dubai, where he couldn’t defend seven runs in the final over, as some sort of baggage he carried in his mind during Sunday’s match.
“When you bowl those kind of overs, you sort of take the spin away from (the batter). Nawaz never looked to bowl the classical left-arm spin. He sort of bowled an arm ball – and then you know Hardik looked to hit through midwicket – but never ever looked to hit the deck with spin, which he did really well in the first three overs that he bowled."
“I guess that’s the beauty of the game. That’s the nerves telling on you and also some baggage of what had happened in the previous game against India when he bowled that last over in the Asia Cup (in the league stage in Dubai)," he added.
(With Agency Inputs)
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