Dubai: Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir was impressed with talismanic batter Virat Kohli’s batting show in Asia Cup 2022, saying that his form is a sign of good things to come for the side in the tournament.
In the Super Four match against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium, Kohli top-scored with 60 off 44 balls, hitting four fours and a six, while running hard between the wickets and was superb against pacers in India’s total of 181/7.
Along with a scratchy 35 against Pakistan earlier in Group A on the occasion of his 100th T20I and an unbeaten 59 against Hong Kong, Kohli is currently the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 154 runs in three innings, averaging 77 and at a strike rate of 126.22.
“Very good, infact Virat Kohli looked very, very good, I loved the approach of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul followed by Suryakumar Yadav, (Deepak) Hooda; all those guys played well.”
“But Virat Kohli was good, so you got to give it to him, coming back after the way he batted in the first and second game just showed that probably he got that confidence back specially today; looked really good and I hope he continues this form,” said Gambhir on ‘Follow the Blues’ show on Star Sports.
After the match ended in a five-wicket loss for India, Gambhir remarked that the likes of Suryakumar and Rishabh Pant need to learn from Kohli on how to play in under pressure situations and work hard on their running between the wickets.
“See, I like a flexible batting lineup. You can have your set openers, but you need to have flexible No.3 or 4. Yes, Virat has got runs today, the kind of form Suryakumar Yadav is in, once you kind of get that start, get that tempo, you can probably promote Suryakumar Yadav at No.3, and then probably keep going. Virat batted brilliantly; he is going to get better from here on. One thing is these guys like Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant need to learn from Virat Kohli is the way he runs between the wickets.”
In his 44-ball knock at a strike rate of 136.36, Kohli took 22 singles and ran hard for taking eight twos. Suryakumar scored just 13 runs off 10 balls while Pant made only 14 runs off 12 balls and Pandya was dismissed for a two-ball duck.
“Not every time, you will be able to hit those big shots but the difference between Virat Kohli and the rest of the guys, Surya might have more shots than Virat Kohli, but Virat is never under pressure because of the way he runs, the way he converts ones into twos.”
“Suryakumar, Deepak Hooda and Rishabh Pant might not be able to do it, but they need to learn from Virat Kohli, how important it is under pressure in big games, where you are put in pressure and whether you are able to play that risk-free cricket and still get those 10-11 runs per over,” concluded Gambhir.
India’s next Super Four match in Asia Cup 2022 will be against Sri Lanka at Dubai on Tuesday.
–IANS