“I want him to retire from T20Is because…”- Shoaib Akhtar comes up with an unforeseen take on Virat Kohli
Follow Us
Virat Kohli (L) and Shoaib Akhtar (R)
Former Pakistan spearhead Shoaib Akhtar heaped praise on star batter Virat Kohli after the latter’s heroics against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup opening match for both teams. But along with praising the talismanic batter, he came up with an unexpected take on the latter.
Following Pakistan’s heartbreaking loss by four wickets against Rohit Sharma-led Men in Blue, Akhtar praised the Men in Green for boosting their morale. He went on to describe the classic clash as a complete World Cup match.
“Pakistan have done marvelously well. Don’t be down, you all really played well. India did really well… they won one of the best matches in the history. It was a complete World Cup match. It had everything- dropped catch, run-out, no-ball, controversies, stumping,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.
“World Cup has just started, World Cup begins only when India-Pakistan play and the two teams will face off again. Pakistan will see India again, later in this World Cup,” he added.
Kohli had suffered from a lean patch in the last couple of months. Akhtar praised Kohli’s self-confidence and called that innings the best in his life before saying that Kohli should retire from T20Is.
“He is back with a bang. I want him to retire from T20I because I don’t want that he puts his entire energy in T20I cricket. With similar commitment like today, he can score three centuries in ODIs,” Akhtar said on Kohli.
ALSO READ | “A World Cup full of shockers!”-Historic victory for Ireland as they thrash England in an amusing fashion
Virat Kohli played the best innings of his career
Summarising that match, Pakistan gave a 160-run target despite the Indian bowlers’ stronghold at the start of the match. Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed steadied the innings after a quick fall of opening batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s wickets. Both Masood and Ahmed smashed half-centuries to give the competitive target.
India fumbled at first when Pakistani pacers got the better of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and even the in-form batter Suryakumar Yadav. But the duo of Kohli and Hardik Pandya played a careful inning and before anyone could know, they had stitched a 113-run partnership between them.
After the fall of Pandya’s wicket on the first ball of the final over, Dinesh Karthik joined Kohli to finish the innings but the former fell cheaply, failing to give the finish India wanted from him. Before Karthik’s dismissal, Mohammad Nawaz, the bowler in the last over, had bowled the most unwanted delivery, a no-ball. It was controversial and till now fans have polarised opinions on it.
On free-hit three byes were given to India, and Ravichandran Ashwin, on the second-last ball of the innings, read a wide delivery beforehand and left it without hitting, giving one crucial run to the team. On the final ball, one run was needed which Ashwin completed and India emerged victorious by four wickets. Even Kohli agreed later that he played his best innings in that match.
ALSO READ | T20 World Cup 2022: How can Pakistan now qualify for the semi-final?
Stay Updated!
Gouri Das
(4736 Articles Published)