Ex-Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli is not one to back down - his recent glimpses of batting in the nets before the big match on Sunday between India and Pakistan at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 and his one-handed catch at the warm-up match at the Gabba, Brisbane against Australia are testimony to that fact.
He might have disappointed while batting by just scoring 19 in the match but that outstanding one-handed catch in the outfield didn't miss anyone's attention. The ball was well on its way to going for a six before King Kohli stuck his one hand out and picked up a blinder at the long-on boundary in face of the Australian team’s dug-out to send back Pat Cummins. Virat’s sharp catch set off a dramatic Australian defeat where they lost their last four wickets in four balls to lose the warm-up match by six runs.
Mohammed Shami ran out Ashton Agar off the fourth ball of his 20th over for a duck and then bowled two incredible yorkers off the last two balls to complete an over that looked like - 2, 2, W W W W! Rohit Sharma disclosed that it was always the strategy of Team India for Shami to bowl at the ‘death overs’.
After finishing the match, Skipper Rohit Sharma said, “We need to improve at death. We need to change lengths and tactics. Sometimes hitting the deck is a good option. Overall, it was a good game. It was a good pitch and their batting put pressure on us. Bowling Shami at the death was always the plan and you saw what he did.”
Australia was cruising at one stage while chasing India's target of 187 with Aussie skipper Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh getting their team off to a good start with an opening stand of 41. Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave India the first breakthrough by removing Marsh but Finch carried on his good form and was threatening to take the match away from India before Harshal Patel took away his thunder.
The Indian bowlers once again found themselves at the receiving end with Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel going in with abundant runs. Patel, however, got India back in the match in his third over by only conceding 5 runs and picking up a couple of wickets. Mohammad Shami did the rest in the last over by picking up as many as four wickets as India won the match by six runs.
Now with the big match coming up on Sunday, it remains to be seen how this side plays us up against Pakistan - considering the heated political exchange that is currently ongoing for the Asia Cup 2023 nonetheless. All eyes on King Kohli!
© Vygr Media Private Limited 2022. All Rights Reserved.
