Widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of the modern era, Virat Kohli always seems to reserve his best for the Pakistan cricket team.
While Kohli is yet to play a Test match against the arch-rivals, he boasts a fabulous record in the white-ball formats.
Virat has played 16 ODIs against Pakistan so far, amassing 678 runs at an average of 52.15 and a strike rate of 100.29 with three hundreds and two half-centuries. In T20Is, his domination against Pakistan goes to a different level altogether – 488 runs in 10 games at an average of 81.33 and a strike rate of 123.85 with five fifties.
However, there was one Pakistani bowler named Junaid Khan who is known for troubling Virat Kohli when the latter was still early in his international career.
The left-arm pacer got Kohli out in all three ODI matches during Pakistan’s white-ball tour of India in 2012-13. Overall, Junaid has bowled 24 balls to the Indian star and dismissed him three times, while conceding only three runs.
Speaking on Nadir Shah’s podcast, Junaid Khan recently recalled how he warned Virat Kohli before taking his wicket in a match.
“Dande toh bahut saare ke udaye hai magar log jo yaad karte hai wo Virat Kohli ke hai (I have taken wickets of so many batsmen but people always remember Virat Kohli’s wicket,” Junaid said.
“We have played in the U-19 World Cup, we knew each other. It was my comeback series and I was playing against India for the first time. I got Kohli in the first match and he told me it will not happen again. I got him again in the second and third match. Before the third ODI at the breakfast table, I told him ‘Virat aaj aapki khair nahi hai (Virat you will not be spared today).’ Younis Khan was also there. He said get him out again today. Younis bhai took Virat’s catch,” he added.
Junaid Khan also lauded Kohli for his achievements as a batter over the years.
“Virat Kohli is still among the top five batsmen in the World. Especially in the white-ball they way he has made records and has recently broken Sachin Tendulkar’s century record. He is a world class batsmam,” he said.
When asked to pick the better batter between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, Junaid surprised the host by taking Rohit Sharma’s name.
“Mere kahayal mei Rohit Sharma (In my opinion Rohit Sharma is a better batter between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli). Har kism ki shot uske paas hai (He has all kinds of shots in his arsenal),” he opined.
“Everybody calls Rohit ‘The Hitman.’ He has scored an incredible 264. He has also smashed a couple of double hundreds in the ODIs. This is rare, because he has done it more than once. He has also hit the most number of sixes. That’s why I would vote for Rohit.”
In the end, Junaid picked Tendulkar over Kohli, citing that the former would have scored more centuries in the current era.
“Sachin ke runs aap keh sakte hai ki jis time par usne runs banaye agar aajkal ke daur mei hota to uski jo centuries hai vo 100 se 150 tak hoti(Sachin batted in a different era. He would have scored more than 100 centuries in today’s time). He has played when ball used to reverse,” he remarked.
