Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag lavished praise on Virat Kohli for scoring a fine knock of 60 runs off just 44 balls against Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Sehwag opined that had Kohli lost his wicket early, the total of 181 could have been somewhere around 151.
Kohli was able to hit the ground running as he timed the ball to perfection. However, India kept losing wickets at regular intervals and thus Kohli had to change his plans and decided to bat deep.
The right-hander scored four fours and one six in his knock and played a key role in helping the team post 181 runs on the board after Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Kohli hasn’t been in the best of forms in the recent past but Sehwag feels the talisman has never been out of form as he has been getting off to starts but has failed to convert them into substantial scores.
It is well known that Kohli has set lofty standards for himself and whenever he gets out cheaply, we consider it a failure.
“We expect too much from Virat Kohli. Whenever he walks out to bat, we wish him to score big, at least a hundred. People discuss when he will break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 centuries. So, when he gets 40, 50 or 60, we don’t even count. So, this is the reason, I think people have been discussing him a lot,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
“For me, he was always in form but couldn’t convert good starts to bigger scores. But this innings [against Pakistan] was crucial. Rohit and Rahul gave a superb start to the innings but one person around whom this Indian team plays is Virat Kohli. Had he lost his wicket early, the total of 181 could have been somewhere around 151.
“A player’s form is considered poor when he gets out for 0, 1,2 or so… But that has never been the case with him. He is scoring runs but not a hundred. So, he isn’t living up to our expectations but at the same time, what we expect is not important to him,” he added.
However, Kohli’s knock went in vain as India lost by five wickets after Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Nawaz scored 71 and 42 runs respectively.
India will next take on Sri Lanka at the same venue on Tuesday.
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