Virat Kohli played a perfect cameo after the carnage from Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan scoring 80 each and putting on a record opening stand. Kohli, in his innings of 26 runs from 11 balls did not hit a single four but 3 sixes. This might be strange because Kohli scores boundaries along the ground instead of taking the aerial route often. In the 3rd ball of 18th over, Collin de Grandhomme bowled a good length off cutter to Kohli. The Indian skipper hit the ball with full swing of the bat timing it well. The ball did not just go over the boundary but hit the second tier.
Kohli could not believe himself that he had hit such a huge hit. He is not exactly known for his big hitting but timing the ball well to hit sixes. He was surprised that the ball has traveled such distance and it was quite visible from his facial expressions. After admiring his shot, Kohli walked up to Rohit and shared a laugh with him. It was the second ball he faced in his innings after Hardik Pandya’s wicket who he had sent in to bat ahead of him.
Here’s the video of Kohli being surprised by his own shot –
— cricket (@84107010ghwj) November 1, 2017
Up up and away…….@imVkohli #INDvNZhttps://t.co/4q8AtoWsEE #BCCI
— Meeqat Hashmi (@MeeqatHashmi) November 1, 2017
The 28-year-old scored at a strike rate of 236.36. He along with Rohit and MS Dhoni helped India get past the 200 mark and get the New Zealand batsmen under pressure from ball one. He started the last over of the innings in style as well hitting Tim Southee for a huge six by coming down the wicket and using his wrists to generate power.
India managed to win the match easily by 53 runs. He gave the final over to Ashish Nehra who retired from all forms of cricket on November 1. He got the crowd behind Nehra in the last over as well when he was getting emotional followed by carrying him on his shoulder with Shikhar Dhawan during the victory lap.
