Virat Kohli’s excellence with the bat doesn’t surprise his teammates or opponents any more. Brilliance is routine for the former India captain, and so whether it is Shreyas Iyer or Kyle Jamieson, they all believe it is only normal for Kohli to author spectacular knocks every other day.
Kohli played a sparkling innings of 93 off 91 balls as India chased down a target of 301 to record a four-wicket win over New Zealand on Sunday and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Besides being the Player of the Match, ‘King’ Kohli also reached the milestone of 28,000 International runs during his innings, and he has done so in the fastest time among all stalwarts.
Shreyas, who made a fine 49 on his return to International action after a lengthy injury layoff, lavished praise on his senior teammate.
“Whatever we talk about his innings, it would be less. We have been seeing it for so many years now, he’s been doing it consistently. The way he rotates the strike and takes on the bowlers, he basically walks the talk,” Shreyas said in a video posted by the BCCI.
Jamieson, the New Zealand all-rounder, went a step further, doffing his hat to Kohli for belonging to a “different level”. Jamieson said that as an opponent, it is difficult
to plan and contain a player like Kohli.
Speaking to mediapersons after Sunday’s loss, Jamieson, echoing Shreyas, said Kohli has been extraordinary as a batter for quite a long time.
“It’s hard to say from an opposition point of view whether this is the best version of him or not — he’s been pretty good for a long time, right?,” the 31-year-old said.
Jamieson knows a thing or two about Kohli, having been his teammate at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Explaining how difficult it is to make plans against Kohli, Jamieson said: “You feel every time you come up against him, you’ve got to be at your absolute best to even compete. He’s on a different level, he plays the game on a different level to most cricketers, (and) he looked pretty good for the most part.”
The Kiwi admitted that eventually, on most occasions, Kohli would have his way.
“We’ll just have to try and come up with some plans to try and contain him, but (then) you don’t contain the greats, they have their way a little bit, so just enjoyed watching him play for sure,” he said.
