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After subpar performances in the first two T20Is against Australia, former skipper Virat Kohli was in fine touch when it mattered as he led India to a series-clinching six-wicket victory in the third T20I in Hyderabad on Sunday. Kohli, along with Suryakumar Yadav, set up a 104-run partnership while chasing a target of 186 runs.
But a bigger achievement for Kohli will be his ability to go after the dangerous leg spinner Adam Zampa, who was the most expensive bowler on the night, conceding 44 runs at an economy of 11.00. Zampa claimed 3-16 in the 2nd match at Nagpur, but Kohli decided to go after him, something that the chase master had decided when he took on Zampa.
“I have to utilise my experience and had to take down Zampa. I made up my mind to go after him. He is a quality bowler and tries to control my scoring. I knew he was attacking my stumps, so was outside the leg stump. I am making a conscious effort to strike those big ones through the middle overs,” he said.
Despite this, Kohli took a backseat for most of the innings, which allowed Suryakumar Yadav to go after the bowling. After the in-form Surya was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood, he joined forces with Hardik Pandya, stitching a 48-run partnership with Hardik Pandya to guide the Men in Blue to a six-wicket victory over Australia with a ball to spare.
“I looked at the dugout and both Rahul and Rohit asked me to continue batting. He (Suryakumar Yadav) has the game to bat in any conditions, he got a hundred in England, then batted well in Asia Cup. Here he is striking the ball as well as I have seen him in the last six months. It’s just the array of shots and to play the shots at the right time is such a good skill to have, and he does that,” Kohli told the official broadcaster after the match.
However, Kohli was unhappy that India needed 11 runs from the final over. He was dismissed in the same over off Daniel Sams after blasting a huge six on the first delivery. Hardik edged Sams to the boundary off the penultimate delivery to seal victory for India.
“The game shouldn’t have gone for that long, and we should have had four or five runs to chase in the last over. It was important to maintain my composure and get one boundary which I was able to do (in the last over),” added Kohli.
