How Virat Kohli Weathered the Mohammad Amir storm

By: BCCI

Mohammad Amir was in the middle of a dream spell. He had sent back the Indian openers in his very first over with the scoreboard reading just two.

The ball was doing all that Amir wanted it to do after leaving his hand and suddenly, surprisingly there were a few worries in the Indian camp that was chasing a total of just 84.

It was arguably one of the most exciting first overs in T20 cricket that you would ever see. Pace, swing, bounce and movement – you asked for it and you had it all in full display on those 22-yards under lights.

After making the batsman hop and question their own abilities in the following over, Amir returned to rock back Suresh Raina as well.

In a matter of minutes India had lost their top three with Amir snaring down their throats and waiting to spread more venom in the batting line-up.

Amidst all this Virat Kohli at the other end played him watchfully, nudged a couple of singles here and there and went into a very ‘non-T20’ zone.

Here was a challenge in front of him – you had a bowler sending in canons at more than 140kmph consistently and Virat in his zen-like demeanor decided to weather the storm by his own might.

The storm later didn’t just get calmer but was also dealt with finesse as he struck Amir for two back to back boundaries in his final over.

The job was done and after that it was a matter of playing in and getting the team towards the target. The result – Kohli got to a 51-ball 49 and India marched their way to a 5-wicket win.

The man of the moment found satisfaction in the challenge posed in front of him. “Definitely it was a very challenging knock,” Virat told BCCI.tv giving a rewind of his innings.

“I think chasing a low total is always tricky when you are three down for eight runs with the ball swinging around with pace. It is never easy to go and dig in and create an innings from there.”

Pat came words of appreciation for the bowler who had created all the flutter early on in the Indian innings. “Hats off to the way the Pakistan bowlers bowled – especially Mohammad Amir.

It was a pleasure playing that spell; that tested me out completely. To come out of that, it gives me a lot of confidence as a batsman. I am just delighted that I could contribute to the team’s success and winning high pressure games is always nice.”

It was almost as if the batsmen had gone into a shell while facing the brilliance of Amir. Kohli elaborated on his mindset while playing under such testing circumstances.

“As a batsman, you have to create a strange balance. You have to keep a positive mindset but at the same time you can’t afford to play a loose shot which you would rather go for in a different situation in a T20 game.

The mental switch was to immediately go to an ODI zone rather than a T20 zone because we didn’t have to worry about the run-rate.

“It was just about keeping the scoreboard ticking and not giving away wickets. But my intent was always positive. If I had some deliveries that were loose, I went after them playing correct cricketing shots which was very important on this pitch.”

Kohli was further of the view that the knock was a great learning curve for him. “It is a learning for me personally to play on these kind of pitches and learn how to build an innings. You cannot learn anywhere better than out in the middle when you are in that situation and dealing with it. There is no better lesson than that.”

Even after the Amir burst was done, Kohli had to deal with the rest of the bowling line-up as well. If not equally menacing, they were definitely threatening and asking questions every over.

Kohli believed the Pakistan bowling line-up was successful in building optimum pressure at that moment and it required great skill and character to come out winning at the end of it.

“Hands down these were amongst the most testing bowling spells. Everyone bowled brilliantly but Mohammad Amir was the pick of the bowlers, but the whole bowling attack created a lot of pressure on our batsmen. It was just about staying in there and showing character, backing yourself and still having a positive intent if you want to defend the ball or leave the ball.

“That is where you need to sort of understand what needs to be done on a pitch which is doing a bit. As a batsman you feel a lot better when you come out of spells like that rather than a game that is batsman friendly. I am personally very happy that I could face may be 12 to 13 overs of bowling like that. To come out well from that is a very good feeling.”

Not just the Pakistan bowlers, even the Indian pacers were at their best picking wickets at regular intervals. To add to it, there was the usual zing in the fielding that left Pakistan haywire in the middle losing wickets in a cluster. For India at the end of the day it was a complete team effort on a job well done.

“We spoke about showing the energy on the field throughout from ball one,” Kohli said. “The way the bowlers started off the innings was brilliant. Ashish Nehra picked up a wicket in the very first over and then Jasprit Bumrah came in and did the job too.”

“There were a couple of run-outs as well, so it was a complete bowling and fielding effort. All in all it was a wonderful game for us, it tested the batsmen a bit but that is what you need, you need challenges in every game that you play. You don’t want to get complacent as a team and you got to respect the opposition and the conditions which is exactly what happened today.”