Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
Post India’s thrilling win in the Super Over in the fourth T20I on Friday, India skipper Virat Kohli, who came to open in the 6-ball game ahead of Sanju Samson, said that he promoted himself as he was more experienced than the Kerala batsman.
“Initially Sanju (Samson) and KL (Rahul) were supposed to go given they can strike the ball well, but I went in because I was more experienced and in a pressure situation it was important for me to handle things,” said Kohli after the match in Wellington as quoted by IANS.
Chasing 14 runs in the Super Over, Rahul smashed 10 runs off 3 balls and skipper Kohli gave the finishing touch to take India home.
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“The two strikes off the first two balls were important and then I thought I’d get the ball in the gaps and get the job done,” the skipper said, adding, “I haven’t been part of a Super Over for too long but happy to have got my team across.”
Earlier at Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand skipper Tim Southee, who was holding the post in the absence of injured Kane Williamson, had won the toss and opted to bowl first.
An excellent 50 not out off 36 balls from Manish Pandey powered India to 165 for 8 in 20 overs. In return, half-centuries from Colin Munro (64 off 47) and Tim Seifert (57 off 39) kept New Zealand well on top of the chase but an anti-climax saw the Kiwis score only 10 runs off the final 12 balls.
Jasprit Bumrah bowled the penultimate over giving away just 4 runs. Following him, Shardul Thakur conceded just 6 runs in the final over to force a Super Over.
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