Former Indian all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi believes Virat Kohli’s historic knock against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup was instrumental in him finding form. Prior to the T20I showpiece, Kohli had scored 276 runs in five matches of the Asia Cup at an average of 92.
Kohli was at his sublime best in the team’s World Cup opener against the arch-rivals. The right-hander scored a majestic knock of unbeaten 82 runs off just 53 balls as he got India to a famous win. The talisman ended the tournament as the highest run-getter with 296 runs in six matches at an average of 98.67 and a strike rate of 136.41.
Kohli was then rested for the tour of New Zealand and could only return with scores of 9 and 5 in the first two matches against Bangladesh. However, the right-hander from Delhi scored a fine knock of 113 runs off just 91 balls in the third ODI against the Tigers on Saturday at Chhatogram.
Thus, Kohli was able to end his ODI century drought of more than three years as he had scored his last 50-overs hundred back in August 2019.
Reetinder Singh Sodhi said on India News, “I feel Virat’s miraculous knock against Pakistan at the T20 World Cup was instrumental in him finding form again. A big player like Kohli needs just one game to get back into his groove. Virat scoring runs is so crucial in the context of the ODI World Cup as the impact he has can hurt the opposition badly.”
On the other hand, Ishan Kishan scored a gargantuan knock of 210 runs off just 131 balls with the help of two dozen fours and 10 sixes. Sodhi added a lot of credit goes to Virat Kohli for keeping the youngster calm.
“We praised Ishan for his incredible knock, but the credit should also be given to Kohli as he kept on talking to the youngster and calmed him down in his nervous 90s.”
Kohli and Ishan Kishan added a mammoth partnership of 20 runs for the second wicket against the Tigers.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli also went past Ricky Ponting’s record of 71 International centuries.
India and Bangladesh will face each other in two Test-match series.
