Virat Kohli hits the ball in areas that you can’t even imagine, feels Jhye Richardson
Jhye Richardson has stated that Virat Kohli is the toughest batsman in world cricket to bowl to and added that the Indian can hit a shot wherever he wants to hit. Richardson has also added that Kohli also pushes the other guys in the team to sort of step up when he’s batting with them.
India’s tour of Australia in early 2019 saw Jhye Richardson dismissing Virat Kohli in all three encounters, making himself a star name overnight. Although Kohli scored a century in the second ODI in Adelaide, the discussion was never-ending and Richardson found himself on the right side of expectations. His career has been ravaged by injuries since then but the Western Australian pacer knows what it is to bowl to Virat Kohli, something he spoke in detail during a recent podcast.
“Virat Kohli without a doubt,” Richardson said when he was asked to name the best batsman he has bowled to in The Winter Series podcast with Paul Dennett.
“He (Virat Kohli) bats with so much energy and you can tell he’s on a different level than anyone else you bowl to. Even in the Indian team when you’ve got Rohit Sharma’s and all but Kohli’s at a different level. He hits the ball in areas that you can’t even imagine. You can tell that he pushes the other guys in the team to sort of step up when he’s batting with them. He’s unbelievable. He can change a game like that,” added Richardson.
After that series, Australia made a return series to India for a five-match ODI series just ahead of the 2019 Indian Premier League where he didn’t have that sort of dominance against the Indian skipper. Dismissing him only one in that series, Richardson understood Kohli’s determination to take him on right from the outset.
“There was a few times that I bowled to him in India post their Australian tour, as soon as I came on to bowl, it’s like he wanted to take me down straight away. He was in the fight from ball 1. I felt I was on the backfoot,” added Richardson.