One of the legends in the Indian commentary recently named his favourite innings from Indian players in Down under. He has included Virat Kohli’s 133 off 86 balls as one of the finest innings played at the Aussie soil.
Virat played this match winning innings against the Sri Lankan team in the CB series of 2012.
The rules were a bit different back then and the rule back then was that if a team chases the target within 40 over mark, the team will get a extra point at the points table. India was desperate for that one extra point during that situation in the series. But India’s hopes were shook by the brilliance of Sri Lankan top order. Dilshan scored a terrific knock off 160 off 165 deliveries and wicket keeper batsmen Kumar Sangakkara scored 105 off 87 deliveries. This helped Sri Lanka reach a mammoth total of 320 for loss of 4 wickets.
India desperately needed to win this game to stay alive in this series. The team got a decent start from Sehwag and Tendulkar where each scored 30 and 39 respectively. The score was 86/2 when Virat Kohli walked in to join Gambhir in the chase. Both of them began to build a partnership where Gambhir was playing the role of anchor while Kohli was going all out against the Lankan bowling line up. He was playing like a well set striker in the game from the very first delivery he faced. He made the ball go to every corner of the ground. The highlight of this innings was him taking on Malinga who is Lanka’s prime bowler and was at peak of his game at that time, where Kohli smashed him for 24 runs in a single over. That’s where Harsha Bhogle feels that Virat Kohli announced himself to the International cricket.
Virat Kohli is now one of the legends to play this sport. He has been incredible in all three formats of the game. He averages 53 in tests, 59 in One day’s and has an stunning average of 50.8 in the T20I’S. He has been at the top of all the batting rankings that have been there in the game.