Picture : Twitter / BCCI
Formats may change but not the hunger and determination for runs . This is what Indian skipper Virat Kohli is all about and an attribute that makes him the best player in the world And the skipper proved it yet again in the first T20 against West Indies at Hyderabad . It was Kohli brilliance that powered India to six wicket victory with eight balls to spare. Opener K L Rahul too came good at the top with an aggressive 62.
Earlier put into bat by Virat Kohli, West Indies did pose an imposing total of 207/ 5 in their allotted 20 overs. Evin Lewis (40), Brandon King (31), Shimron Hetmyer (56) was to scorer with a fine fifty. Skipper *Kieron Pollard chipped in with ( 37) off 19 balls. Jason Holder played nice cameo 24 off 9 balls and remained unbeaten.
For India , Washington Sundar 1/ 34 ( 3 overs), Deepak Chahar was expensive with 1/ 56 ( 4 overs), Back in side after injury Bhuvneshwar Kumar went wicketless 0/36( 4 overs), Ravindra Jadeja 1 / 30 ( 4 overs), and Yuzvendra Chahal 2/ 36 ( 4 overs)
In reply India got off to a dismal start as it lost Rohit Sharma early for ( 8). But K L Rahul was in fine form and struck an aggressive 62 off 40 balls with five fours and four sixes. He featured in a fine stand with skipper Virat Kohli. Their 100 run stand put India back in the match . Virat Kohli was in scintillating form and struck a fine unbeaten 94 off mere 50 balls with 6 fours and 6 sixes.
A captain’s knock by @imVkohli as India win the 1st T20I by 6 wickets. #INDvWI #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/osg63znNEn
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 6, 2019
Rishabh Pant ( 18), Shreyas Iyer ( 4) failed to fire. Shivam Dube yet to open his account remained unbeaten as Kohli saw India home . India reached 209/ 4 in 18. 4 overs.
For the West Indies, Sheldon Cottrell 1/ 24 (4 overs), Jason Holder 0/46 ( 4 overs), Khary Pierre 2/ 44 ( 4 overs), Kesrick Williams was the most expensive with figures of 3.4 overs for 60 runs.
Good thing is that West Indies tested India with a stiff target and it needed a Virat Kohli special to power India to victory.
