Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel feels Virat Kohli’s brilliant knock of 85 runs against Australia was worth a hundred at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday. Kohli walked out to bat after India lost the early wicket of Ishan Kishan, who was dismissed while flashing hard at a wide delivery.
Subsequently, India lost wickets of their skipper Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer and found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 2-3. However, Kohli made the most of his experience and stitched a crucial alliance of 165 runs with KL Rahul, who scored an unbeaten knock of 97 runs.
Kohli went on to score his 67th ODI fifty but missed out on a chance to complete his century. In fact, the talisman was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood when he timed the ball to perfection but found Marnus Labuschagne at short mid-wicket.
Kohli scored six fours in his knock and rotated the strike on a consistent basis. The veteran was able to absorb the pressure and played another masterclass knock under pressure. In fact, Kohli was disappointed after he got out and the same was palpable when he got into the dressing room.
Parthiv Patel said on Cricbuzz, “He likes that big stage and likes to be that performer when the team is down. He goes into auto mode while chasing. He missed a few balls initially, but that can happen against such a quality bowling attack. The way he ran between the wickets was the biggest difference between Australia’s batting and India’s batting. That’s been his strength.”
“Once Virat Kohl is set, he usually finishes. Unfortunately, he missed out today on being not out or getting a hundred, but this innings was worth a hundred,” he added.
Kohli also had the rub of the green as he was dropped by Mitchell Marsh when he was on 12. Marsh could not hang on to a simple catch with Alex Carey approaching him and thus it created a doubt in the all-rounder’s mind. Former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan feels Australia would have been thinkings about the lost chance.
He said, “Virat Kohli is someone who has done this time and again. So, you can’t give a batter like that a chance and tell him that today is his day. He wanted to be positive, that’s why he played that shot. He wanted to keep that positive approach going at that stage. Between KL and Virat, it was Virat who was going to take the initiative. He was up for the battle but got that extra bounce. The chance was there but it wasn’t the day for Mitchell Marsh to grab that opportunity. Australia will constantly be thinking about that moment.”
India will next take on Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.
