Indian cricket talisman Virat Kohli finally looked in some sort of form with the bat, scoring 37 runs off 28 balls as the team defeated Bangladesh in a T20 World Cup 2024 match on Saturday. Kohli, who had only scored 5 runs in the first three matches of the tournament, entertained fans with his blitz in Antigua as India put 196/5 on the board while batting first. Even in the field, Virat gave fans a nostalgic feeling of playing gully cricket, as he had to go underneath an advertising hoarding to get the ball.
The incident took place when Bangladesh required 74 runs from 18 balls to win the match. Bangla Tigers batter Rishad Hossain smashed a six on a delivery bowled by Arshdeep Singh over deep mid-wicket boundary. The ball went underneath the LED advertisement hoarding, prompting Kohli to use his gully-cricket skills.
Kohli went on his knees and looked to snuck underneath the hoarding in search of the ball. He got the ball, but the commentators couldn’t stop laughing.
Such scenes are often witnessed in gully cricket where balls often go underneath cars, prompting players to hone skills like Kohli showed in Antigua, to retrieve.
As for the match, Hardik Pandya was the Player of the Match, scoring 50 runs off just 27 balls while also picking a wicket with the ball.
“We have played really good cricket. More than anything we have stuck together and executed our plans. I did realise the batters wanted to use the breeze, I made sure I did not give them a chance where the wind was blowing, it was about being one step ahead as a batter. We as a group can get better in a lot of places, losing wickets in bunches is something we can rectify and get better at, apart from that, we are looking good.
“I have been fortunate to play for the country, it was a freak injury I had, I wanted to come back but God had other plans. I was talking to Rahul [Dravid] sir the other day, and he said: ‘Luck comes to people who work hard’ and that has stuck with me for a long time,” Hardik said after the match.
India next face Australia in the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8s.
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