Former Indian fast bowler Varun Aaron showered praise on Virat Kohli after the India’s 27-run loss against England at Lord’s on Sunday. Kohli scored a decent knock of 74 runs off 60 balls in the final ODI of the series and this is highest ODI score at the iconic venue.
He added 113 runs off 86 balls with Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who went on to score a majestic knock of 138 runs off 110 balls. Kohli was able to hit the ground running and picked his bowlers with guile.
“I think it was his game plan against every single bowler. I would like to take Sam Curran’s spell as an example because he was bowling really slow on the pads with three fielders on the leg side. Any other batter would have tried to slog him through the leg side. However, what was Virat Kohli doing? He was giving himself room and going through the off side,” Varun Aaron said on Star Sports when he was asked about the standout feature in Kohli’s knock.
The SRH bowling coach said Kohli knows how to pace his innings in a run-chase though he was not at his absolute best on Sunday.
“Without any pace on a wicket which was really slow, that’s almost difficult to do. People watching might just think, why isn’t he lapping him or playing a reverse sweep? It’s not that easy. The reason why he is a chase master is because Virat Kohli exactly knows when to pull the trigger and against whom,” he added.
On the other hand, Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur reckons Kohli staying till the very end was important for the visitors to have a chance in getting over the line.
“He is absolutely the chase master. His staying till the 50th over was very important for the Indian team because he had played 60 balls. It wasn’t easy for the batters who came after him,” he said on Sony Sports.
Thakur added that it didn’t seem like Kohli batted after a long break as he scored two fine knocks in the last two games against England.
“However, the form he showed in this series, although he got out early in the first match, the way he batted in the previous match and in this match, it doesn’t seem like he was out of touch or was coming after a break. It seems like he has started from where he left off and has maintained the same momentum,” Thakur observed.
India’s next ODI series is at home against the West Indies.
