By: Tarish Bhatt
What a batting exhibition it was from Virat Kohli in Pune! The Indian captain took his side over the line with a scorching hundred at the MCA Stadium to give India a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.
Kohli, alongwith Kedar Jadhav, ensured a three-wicket win for the Indians over England. Both Kohli and Jadhav counterattacked England, when the visitors had their tails up, after reducing India to 63/4.
Jadhav, meanwhile, also completed his second one-day century. He complimented Kohli, who was simply unstoppable, and stitched a 200-run partnership for the fifth wicket to take India over the line.
Read More: Ben Stokes Hammers Record Fifty in Pune
“This win is going to take a while to sink in,” says Virat Kohli. “Conceding 350, being 60 for 4, their bowlers on top, it took a special partnership to get this win. We have seen the potential of Kedar before.”
“The only way we could have come out of this was to counterattack,” Kohli added. “We couldn’t win with those singles. We needed to tell the opposition that we believe we can win.”
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Earlier, chasing a mammoth 351-run to win, India lost quick wickets. Opener Shikhar Dhawan (1) and KL Rahul (8) got out inside the first powerplay. But, Yuvraj Singh and Kohli played some counterattacking cricket.
Just when the partnership looked threatening, Ben Stokes dismissed Yuvraj (15). MS Dhoni then joined Kohli in the middle, but his stay was cut short by Jake Bell, who got the former Indian skipper (6) caught at mid-wicket.
Stokes, again, broke a partnership when he dismissed Kohli (122) to bring England back into the game. But, Jadhav (120) continued for a while, with Hardik Pandya, before being dismissed by Ball.
Pandya (40 not out) continued till the end and sealed India’s win with 11 balls to spare.
