India captain Virat Kohli scored his third half-century of the T20I series against England on Saturday (March 20). It was the fifth T20I in which Kohli scored unbeaten 80 runs after coming out to open the innings with Rohit Sharma (64).
Former India wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel and ex-India batsman Aakash Chopra praised the efforts of Kohli in the series. Parthiv was not only impressed with the batting, but he also mentioned his captaincy.
“No amount of praise is enough for Virat Kohli the batsman and captain. He did an amazing job as a captain today. He brought the main bowlers whenever wickets were required and changed the course of the game,” said Parthiv on Star Sports Network.
“He was in good form, had scored two consecutive half-centuries although he did get out early in the last match. But here we need to praise the other batsmen as well along with Virat Kohli because they allowed Virat Kohli to play his own game. The shots he played, if there was power from one side, he showed the silken touch at the other end,” he added.
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Chopra likes how Kohli understands his game and knows what works for him. He talked about the India captain's statement before the series and then figuring out if it's working for him or not very quickly.
“I was slightly surprised when in the pre-tournament press conference, he said that they will be playing a different brand of cricket. We saw in the first match that he tried to hit more and got dismissed for a duck while playing a big shot against Adil Rashid.
“Then he understood this will not work out. He scored three half-centuries. He starts slowly but after that he doesn't only change the gear, he changes the game itself. He has been absolutely outstanding and this is the Kohli we were all waiting for,” said Chopra.
India won the match by 36 runs and sealed the series by 3-2. Kohli was awarded as the Man of the Series for his outstanding batting performances. He had started the series with a duck but came back strongly to score 231 runs in the rest of the four innings of the series. The runs came at a remarkable strike rate of 147.13, something Team India batsmen are focusing on with T20 World Cup later this year.
