IND vs WI | Virat Kohli continues to show that heās a world class batsman, states Kieron Pollard
BCCI
Windies captain Kieron Pollard hailed Virat Kohli high in his statements post the 1st T20I, saying that the Indian captain continues to display why he is considered world-class. The series opener, in Hyderabad, was comfortably won by India by a margin of six wickets with 8 balls remaining.
There was rage, animation, confidence and perfect execution in Kohliās performance on Friday, playing against West Indies at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium. His masterclass shown on way to his unbeaten 94 was fuelled with anger but not at any point did he let the emotions come in the way of scoring and actually winning the game. There was everything in the game that is required to call any T20 contest as the perfect one.
Kohli hit six fours and as many sixes off the 50 balls that he faced. His heated exchanges with pacer Kesrick Williams was the highlight of the game and it reached the highest level when he went for a six in the 16th over and emulated the bowlerās own notebook celebration.Ā Speaking about that in the post-match press conference, the Windies captain hailed Kohli high and spoke of the Indian skipperās class apart batting.
"He is an animated character, a great batsman and he continues to show the world that he is a world class batsman. His theatrics or whatever, it comes as part and parcel of the game. Sometimes you have to be like that to pump yourself to score runs and so I am fine with it,ā opined Pollard.
Also, the series opener was the first broadened implementation of the TV umpire calling front-foot no-balls in an international. While India conceded zero such extras, it was the visitors who were on the receiving end with the third umpireĀ callingĀ three overstepped deliveries.Ā
"No balls are something we stress on in terms of non-negotiable and we bowled a couple of them tonight. It's something we need to look on,ā Pollard stated.
The captain however, is ready to look past it rather than dwelling on the negatives as there are things that canāt be controlled and those things need to be accepted, which in this case is ICCās new no-ball rule.
"You can find negatives out of every situation but life is about positivity, life is about going forward and looking to improve. I must commend the batters the way they went out and executed. It is what it is, some things you can't control. I can't control what they do or what rules they bring into cricket. So to me that's not a bother and I am not going to fuss about fight over that. We need to control what's in our hands and that's playing cricket. We need to keep our foot behind the line, if we do that the umpire upstairs won't come into play," he said.
The second T20I will be played in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, December 8.
