Virat Kohli The brilliance back at the MCG
Virat Kohli had just looked up at the scoreboard before the unexpected chaos. Eight balls remained in the game, which was not enough for everyone since this was the type of game that should have continued indefinitely, but just enough for another twist or two, according to the huge displays that flashed the information.
The MCG was suddenly gripped by a mass panic, the type of noise that even this renowned venue, despite everything it has experienced before, has not exactly heard. Hardik Pandya was shouting from the non-end. striker’s Something mystical and completely improbable had just occurred.
Haris Rauf, who had previously struck his opening delivery for six and then delivered hostile deliveries to eliminate Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav on the same day, was just 28 runs away from putting an exclamation point on Pakistan’s victory against India.
The type of ball that had been the hardest to put away during the entire evening was ball 18.5 because it was slower and landed on a decent length. Rauf was a 150 kph bowler, thus the slower bowler packs more trickery. As Pandya approached him shouting, Kohli, who was standing deep in his crease, slightly backed away and bottom-handed it with a nearly vertical bat over long-on for six.
Before imagining the game consciousness, picture the circumstance. India’s requirements has changed from 60 off 30 to 54 off 24, 48 off 18, and finally 28 off 8. The game was eroding with each non-boundary ball in that 19th over—there were four of them. According to Pandya, Rauf’s final two deliveries have to go for sixes in order for the final over to have any chance at all. In the last over, Pandya would later remark, “Even just one six would have required us to bat out of our skin.”
Now, attempt to imagine yourself in Kohli’s uncluttered mind. Most batters, in their desperation, would have swung square, taking a risk with the deep fielder clutching the widest square boundary and, at most, having a 50/50 chance of succeeding. Kohli is not. Target the straight boundaries at the MCG, they are shorter, the pre-match data cheat sheet advised him under severe strain and in a situation when there was just one way out.
Kohli’s brilliance gene was once more in full swing. Rauf made the error of being frightened at this time. Avoid becoming tense around Kohli. He desires your fear. He rushes straight into it when he detects your panic. Rauf picked up the tempo again, but he somewhat lost his bearings, and Kohli blasted him over the fine leg for another six.
“The two sixes that player hit were the most exquisite things I’ve ever seen in a cricket match. Normally, in the middle, I remain cool, but even I was yelling, “An hour after India defeated Pakistan in the biggest India-Pakistan World Cup match, the non-striker Pandya would reflect.
