Indian captain Virat Kohli is widely regarded as the best batsman across formats, given that he averages over 50 in all three forms of international cricket. Kohli has been a run making machine, especially in white-ball cricket being the highest run-getter in T20s and over 11,000 runs and 40 centuries in ODIs.
However, he has had troubles with some bowlers over his years and one of them was Junaid Khan of Pakistan, who dismissed him three times in three matches during the 2012-13 India-Pakistan ODI series.
Junaid bowled 24 balls to Kohli, allowing the batsman to score just three runs off him. Kohli managed to score just 13 runs in the series, scoring a duck in Chennai, followed by six and seven in Kolkata and Delhi as Pakistan beat India 2-1. He ended the series with eight wickets, including 4/43 and 3/39 in the first two ODIs respectively.
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“The first ball I bowled to him was a wide but the next ball when I beat him, I thought ‘well, he’s just a normal batsman’. Virat jokingly told me ahead of the series that these are Indian pitches and that balls won’t move much here. I said ‘we’ll see, because I have plenty of momentum with me as well,” Junaid said on the Cricingif show on YouTube.
“Before that tour, I was playing domestic cricket in Faisalabad. I had bowled around 35-40 overs in each match so I had developed momentum heading into the series. I was making a comeback in the ODIs and when we were heading to India, I knew in my mind that this is my only chance to stage a strong comeback into the team. Secondly, I knew if I would perform well in India, I would need to take wickets,” Junaid further said.
However, the 30-year-old left-arm pacer, who has 71 Test, 8 T20I, and 110 ODI wickets to his name, termed Kohli the best batsman in all three formats, while calling Root, Smith, and Azam the best batsmen of this generation.
“No doubt Kohli is the best batsman in all three formats. If you ask anyone, they’d say that guys like Babar Azam, Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith are the best batsmen of the generation, but the best of the lot is Kohli because he’s performed outstandingly in all three formats,” Junaid pointed out.
Here is the video of the interview:
