Former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli has scored three half-centuries in the four T20 World Cup 2022 games in Australia. The talismanic batter has done wonders whenever he has come out to bat and it isn’t just his Indian fans that are going gaga over his performances. Even Australia greats Mark Taylor and Ian Chappell have showered praises on Kohli, both for the consistency he has shown and some of the shots he has hit in the tournament so far.
Virat Kohli arrived in the T20 World Cup 2022 with a point to prove, having not done much with the bat over the last couple of years. In his first match, that too against arch-rivals Pakistan, he slammed an unbeaten 82 to help India win a thriller. In the 19th over of India’s chase, Kohli slammed a couple of sixes off Haris Rauf, bringing India back into the game. One of those sixes came straight down the ground, on the back foot, with a straight bat.
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The hit has widely been touted as the ‘shot of the tournament’. During a chat on Wide World of Sports, former Australia cricketer Mark Taylor admitted that he still can’t understand how Kohli executed that shot.
Talking about the same, Mark Taylor said, “I still rate the one at MCG where he hit Haris Rauf for a six back over his head, off the back foot, with a straight bat. It still went 90 meters. I still can’t work it out how that ball went for a six. I reckon if I hit that shot, mid-on would have been running in, diving in to take a catch!”
Ian Chappel, also a part of the panel, recalled an old interview with Kohli where the India great had revealed why he doesn’t like to hit cheeky T20 shots.
Chappel elaborated, “We did an interview with Virat Kohli, a couple of years ago. When we asked Virat why don’t you 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.”
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He further added, “Few [shots] elevate and he 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 metres!”
With 220 runs to his name so far, Virat Kohli is the highest run-getter in the tournament. What’s mind-boggling is that he has only been dismissed once in 4 matches.
