Virat Kohli
In India ‘Virat’ means big. Virat Kohli struck his second consecutive ton to lead India to a comfortable victory against New Zealand. This performance will be seen as his ‘Virat’ (big) leap into the eyes of the selectors who are trying to put up an ideal team for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Kohli looks in terrific form and the selectors would like to see him perform is different and tougher conditions before selecting him for the Indian squad.
Kohli seems to be a man in hurry, in the 36 matches he had in his career, he has already become the highest run getter ahead of Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly! He shows immense maturity as he paces his innings to perfection and doesn’t get overwhelmed by pressure. He is a big hitter of the ball but he also has the temperament to stay calm and punish only the bad deliveries or when required.
India got a solid start from G. Gambhir and M. Vijay who scored 29 and 38 respectively. Gambhir struggled in the early overs but played some good shots before handing one to J. How. Kohli was undoubtedly the main performer but the fact that his innings blossomed alongside Yuvraj Singh cannot be denied. Singh looked shaky in the early part of his innings but soon found touch and played sensibly partnering in-form Kohli. After playing a few splendid strokes it seemed like this match would see a Yuvraj special but edged a drive to Daryl Tuffey.
After Kohlis departure the Indian lower order collapsed and were all out at 276 with an over to spare. Indian bowling didn’t look impressive on paper but was effective. Shreesanth led the attack and created a hat-trick opportunity that his missed. Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuvraj Singh did the trick for India as both of them took 3 wickets each.
Ross Taylor fought a one side battle for the Kiwi’s scoring 66. M Guptill, K Williamson, N McCullum and Kyle Mills chipped in with cameos but couldn’t do enough to beat the under strength Indian side.
Things are looking great from the Indian perspective as an almost ‘B’ team could beat a world class Kiwi side in a convincing manner. A few more good performances by youngsters may put the selectors in a difficult situation as in who to select and who to drop?
Tags: Cricket, Cricket India, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, India, Indian Cricket Team, Indian Sports, Sports, Sports India, Virat Kohli
