The Delhi run-machine was in the mood of scoring runs again as India romped home to a comfortable 59-run victory against the West Indies at Dharamsala on Friday.
After a terrible two months on the English shores, Virat Kohli is back in business!
The Delhi run-machine was in the mood of scoring runs again as India romped home to a comfortable 59-run victory against the West Indies at Dharamsala on Friday.
Kohli, who continued where he left off from at Kotla (62, notched up a 114-ball 127 to help India post 330 for six and also went onto win the Man of the Match award.
A summer of trepidation in England where Kohli was unable to score against the moving ball as the former came under tremendous pressure as India lost the Test series.
But even after winning the ODIs, the scratchy form of Virat followed and the tour ended with a fighting fifty in the lone T20 that went in the losing cause. Though the likes of Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan are amongst the runs, India needs Virat Kohli to guide them in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia.
Just when the West Indies were trying to peg back into the game, Virat showed his class on way to reaching his first hundred across all formats since February, following a lean patch of his career. Also, with that ton in the bag, Kohli also became the fastest to score 20 hundreds in ODIs.
“First run scored in Delhi felt like my first run for India. The kind of cricket I’ve played in the last four five years, I guess people expect runs from me everytime. I guess it’s all about clearing your mind and being positive and take my time and not rush into it. I’m someone who relies on visualisation a lot. I visualised myself playing against the bowlers the next day. I’m a confident player and that works for me,” said Kohli after receiving the man-of-the-match award.
With the Australian tour on the horizon, India’s overseas problems need to be solved at the earliest. Ravi Shastri is the right ‘mentor’ to be available in the backroom staff and that might have worked on the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli itself. Last time India was Down Under, the Oz thrashed them 4-0 back in 2012 and moreover, handing MS Dhoni his worst defeat in the Test arena. But a positive factor was the emergence of Virat Kohli who scored a defiant 112 at Adelaide.
MS Dhoni and his merry men may not be the favourites going into the Australian summer but if Virat seals the momentum, the results could go their way.
