Pakistan speedster Haris Rauf has heaped praise on Virat Kohli for his match-winning knock against his team in the T20 World Cup 2022 match at MCG on October 23)
Chasing 160 to win, the Men in Blue were in dire straits at 31/4 after 6.1 overs. Amid the pressure situation, Kohli rose to the occasion as he smashed 82* off 53 balls and shared a 113-run stand with Hardik Pandya (40 off 37 balls) to script India’s nail-biting four-wicket victory.
The highlight of Kohli’s innings was the two sixes he smashed against Rauf in the penultimate over of India’s innings. While the first hit was down the ground to a slower ball, the second maximum was a flick over square leg.
"The way he [Kohli] played in the World Cup, that is his class, we all know the types of shots he plays. And the way he hit those sixes, I don’t think any other player can hit a shot like that off my bowling," said Rauf in an exclusive chat with Cricwick.
"If Dinesh Karthik aur Hardik Pandya would’ve hit those sixes, I would’ve been hurting but those came off Kohli’s bat and he is a different class altogether."
Haris Rauf then explained his decision to bowl those slower deliveries.
"Look, India required 31 off the last 12 balls. I had given away only three runs off four deliveries. I knew Nawaz was bowling the last over, he is a spinner and I had tried to leave at least four big boundaries for him and leave at least more than 20 runs.
"And since 28 were required off eight balls, I had bowled three slower balls and he was deceived. I had only bowled one quick ball out of four. So the idea was to bowl a slower one on that back-of-a-length zone since the boundary was larger on the square side.
"I had no idea that he can hit me down the ground off that length. So when he hit that shot off me, that’s his class. My plan and execution was fine but that shot was all class."
During India’s tour of Australia in 2018-19, Rauf was one of the net bowlers bowling to the Indian squad and he had interacted with the likes of Kohli, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, and then India head coach Ravi Shastri.
"I was in Australia at that time, it was a net session in Sydney. It was the first time I had interacted with the Indian side and at that point, I was playing club cricket (grade one) in Sydney," he said when asked about his journey.
"At that point, it was India’s fourth Test of the series (2018-19). When I bowled at them, obviously you learn a lot by bowling at these great players. Then of course I met them in the previous World Cup as well as Asia Cup too, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul they are always very happy for me.
"Ravi Shastri, who was the coach at that time, often times when I meet him he is always happy to see me representing my country after starting off as a net bowler. Even Virat is very appreciative, he recalls that time when I started as a net bowler," he remarked.
