Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar has praised Virat Kohli innings against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021’s campaign opener in Dubai. Despite Kohli’s knock, Team India went down by 10 wickets as Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan stitched an unbeaten 152-run stand.

Virat Kohli weathered the storm when wickets were falling around him. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul got out in Shaheen Afridi’s successive overs inside the powerplay. Kohli went inside his shell and denied further inroads to Pakistan bowlers.

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Sunil Gavaskar praised the way Kohli set up the innings, where he scored 57 runs in 49 balls, which included five fours and one six.

“It was a terrific innings because India had lost their openers in the powerplay itself, so there was a greater sense of responsibility on Kohli’s shoulders because he now had to pace the innings, repair the innings and also get India to a total which they could hope to defend,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’.

“So, the way he (Kohli) paced his innings, the way he chose the shots to break free at times and the six that he hit off Shaheen Afridi. Absolutely amazing talent,” quipped the 72-year-old batting legend.

Gavaskar further praised Shaheen Afridi’s spell, where he dismissed Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli to set up the match for Pakistan.

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The way Shaheen Afridi was bowling, he was mixing it up quite well, he was angling the ball across the right hand and he was getting the ball to turn back in after pitching, not so much in the air because you don’t get that much help in the UAE,” he said.

“That’s why it was important for Kohli to try and step out so that he would be able to then negate the amount of swing that Shaheen Afridi was getting and that’s how he was able to negotiate that and score runs off Shaheen Afridi.”