Kohli becomes the first batsman to score 20,000 international runs in a decade.
Our Bureau
Canberra
After registering a 13-run win over Australia in the third and final ODI, India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday hailed the never-say-die attitude shown by his team when put under pressure situations.
While India opened their account in the ODI Super League with the win, Australia took the series 2-1. Luck was on India’s side to begin with as Kohli won the toss for the first time in the series and decided to bat. While the top-order failed to fire in unison, the middle-order rose to the challenge and both Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja played match-winning knocks of 92 and 66 respectively to guide India to 302/5. Virat Kohli himself got among the runs as he played a knock of 63 runs.
“Playing international cricket for 13-14 years, you should be able to come back like we did. I would have liked to go on for a bit longer, but we had a great partnership between Hardik and Jadeja. It was exactly what the team needed to get that boost, even though we’ve lost the series. We played with heart and desire, and that’s what you need to do in Australia,” he added.
For the first time in the last six ODIs, the Men in Blue also managed to take a wicket in the powerplay overs.
While India opened their account in the ODI Super League with this win, Australia took the series 2-1. Ravinder Jadeja played an unbeaten knock of 66 runs and he stitched a partnership of 150 runs with Pandya to take India’s score to 302/5. Jadeja also managed to take the crucial wicket of Aaron Finch, and he ended up with the figures of 1-62 in his quota of ten overs.
Luck was on India’s side to begin with as Kohli won the toss for the first time in the series and decided to bat. While the top-order failed to fire in unison, the middle-order rose to the challenge and both Pandya and Jadeja played match-winning knocks of 92 and 66 respectively to guide India to 302/5. Kohli played a knock of 63 runs.
Meanwhile, former India cricketers VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir lavished praise on Indian skipper Virat Kohli for becoming the first batsman to score 20,000 international runs in a decade.
Kohli, who became the fastest batsman to score 12,000 ODI runs on Wednesday, has smashed 22,074 runs in international cricket since making his debut in 2008. The right-handed cricketer is also the fastest batsman to score 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 and 11,000 ODI runs. Laxman admitted he himself had doubted Kohli and felt that at one stage the Indian skipper will burn out but was surprised after seeing his determination on the field.
“Oh yeah, phenomenal! I think, the way he has played in each and every series, the kind of intensity he has maintained each and every day, when he’s on the cricket field is unbelievable,” Laxman said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
“Because at some stage I thought that will be the biggest challenge for Virat Kohli at some stages he will burn out, but not even once we have seen that energy drop-down when Virat is on the cricket field, whether he is batting or he is fielding,” he added.
Laxman also praised Kohli for his art of chasing the targets and said the Indian skipper relishes the pressure and responsibilities.
“And under pressure, because if you see his one-day record, how many hundreds did he get while chasing and then you know that you’ve got a target to achieve, there’s always a scoreboard pressure on him, but he relishes pressure, he relishes responsibility and that’s what gets the best out of him,” Laxman said.
Gambhir echoed the sentiments and couldn’t hold himself from praising the Indian skipper.
“You can take anything, you can actually do whatever you want, but the best feeling in the world is, when you score that last run and come back to your hotel room and you’re so satisfied that you’ve done something for your country, what you were meant to do,” Gambhir said.
“So probably, all those combinations have made him what he is, and hats off to him, he’s scored more than 20,000 runs, centuries all that,” he added.
