New Zealand’s tall and lanky pacer Kyle Jamieson was visitors’ pick of the bowlers in a losing cause against India in the first ODI of the series. Jamieson bagged four wickets to stage New Zealand’s comeback but KL Rahul held his nerves to take India over the line with an over to spare. Before Rahul, it was Kohli who took India to doorstep of victory, He scored 93 runs from 91 balls. While it was Jamieson who dismissed Kohli, courtesy captain Michael Bracewell’s stunning catch, the Kiwi pacer admitted that it is hard to contain the 37-year-old. He labelled Kohli as a 'great', a batter whom he enjoys watching batting despite being in the opposition.
"It's hard to say from an opposition point of view whether this is the best version of him or not -- he's been pretty good for a long time, right?," Jamieson told the media after the four-wicket loss in Vadodara.
"You feel every time you come up against him, you've got to be at your absolute best to even compete. He's on a different level, he plays the game on a different level to most cricketers, (and) he looked pretty good for the most part.
"We'll just have to try and come up with some plans to try and contain him, but (then) you don't contain the greats, they have their way a little bit, so just enjoyed watching him play for sure," Jamieson added.
Jamieson’s ODI career-best figures
Defending a total of 300, Jamieson bowled 10 overs including one maiden, conceded 41 runs and claimed four wickets. His four scalps were Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja. These are Jamieson’s ODI career-best bowling figures. It was also his first four-fer in ODIs.
More praise for Kohli
Jamieson went on to laud Kohli for keeping hosts’ run chase on track in the middle overs.
"He (Kohli) controlled the tempo through the middle and set the innings up for his team," Jamieson said about his former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate.
Kohli was named ‘Player of the match’ for his 93-run knock. This was his seventh consecutive fifty-plus score in List A cricket.