Former Australian captain Ian Chappell recalled a conversation with Virat Kohli when he asked the Indian batter ‘Why doesn’t he tries fancy shots in the T20I format’? Kohli was quick to reply and said he doesn’t want them to creep into his Test game.
Chappell, who is an idolist of Test cricket, was all impressed by Kohli’s response. It has been noticed that Kohli has always backed his usual game to savor success in the shortest format of the game.
Kohli is hardly seen playing the reverse sweep or the scope shot. In fact, Kohli hardly plays the normal sweep shot in T20I cricket. The talisman relies on taking twos in the middle overs and accelerates at the fag end of the innings with proper cricketing shots.
The right-hander is not known to be a hard-hitter of the ball and his strength has always been timing. Kohli has his own method of scoring runs in the T20I format, which is a bit orthodox but it has been effective for him.
“We did an interview with Virat Kohli, a couple of years ago. It was a magnificent example of talking about the game. When we asked Virat why don’t use some of the fancy shots, he said, ‘I don’t want them to creep into my Test game’. That’s one of the amazing things about Virat Kohli. He makes all these runs at a very good rate, and he does it with normal cricketing shots,” Chappell recalled on Sydney Morning Herald.
“Few alleviate and get hit into the stands, that doesn’t mean it’s a slog. As Mark (Taylor) described, off the backfoot, hitting straight, it’s a cricket shot, except you don’t hit it in the air. But he did, and he did 90 meters,” Chappell further said.
Kohli has batted at the top of his game in the ongoing T20 World Cup, scoring 220 runs at an average of 220 and a strike rate of 144.74 in four matches. The former Indian skipper is currently the highest run-getter of the edition and also leapfrogged Mahela Jayawardene’s tally of 1015 runs to become the leading run-scorer in the T20 World Cup history.
Kohli has been ticking the right boxes and he would want to continue the same form in the knockout stages. India will next face Zimbabwe on Sunday at the MCG.
