THE PASSING OF BATON

 

Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.

Venue- Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Mirpur [March 18 2012].

India were facing their arch rival Pakistan in the Group Stage of the 2012 Asia Cup. The Pakistanis were unbeaten in the tournament. On the other India lost its previous game against Bangladesh in Mirpur. Hence the men in blue were under intense pressure. On a batting friendly wicket Pakistani Captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bat first. Riding on the centuries of Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed, the men in green posted a massive total of 329/6 in their 50 overs. It is interesting to note that the opening stand between Hafeez and Jamshed lasted for 35.5 overs in which the duo stitched a partnership of 224 runs. Apart from them Younis Khan scored a quickfire 52 of 34 deliveries as the Pakistanis reached 329. Every Indian bowler was taken for runs. But, despite all of this Praveen Kumar and Ashok Dinda were successful in picking up 2 wickets each. 

However the target of 330 was not going to be easy task and to make matters worse we lost our opener Gautam Gambhir in the second delivery of the innings. The Indian scorecard read 0/1 when Kohli came out to bat. It was indeed a precarious situation as one more wicket would have taken the match away from us. But, this is when Kohli showed his class. He added 133 runs with Sachin Tendulkar in just 114 deliveries. By the time Tendulkar was dismissed for 52 the Indians were in a good position. However it was his partnership with Rohit Sharma which eventually sealed the game for Indians. Kohli and Sharma had a massive partnership of 172 runs in 158 deliveries. Rohit Sharma scored a gritty 68 of 83 deliveries. However the star of the chase was Virat Kohli who scored a majestic 183 of 148 deliveries against a prime Pakistani attack.

In this knock of 183 Kohli hit a total of 22 boundaries and 1 six. Apart from that he was also very quick between the wickets which made the scoreboard continuously ticking. Due to his running between the wickets the required rate never went very high. This indeed shows Kohli's presence of mind and knowledge of the game. The Young Lad from Delhi made this run chase look like a piece of cake. Due to his efforts India won this game in the 48th over itself. 

Even though India failed to qualify for the finals of the Asia Cup, but they did get the successor of the Great Sachin Tendulkar. Interestingly this game was the last ODI game of the Little Master, which meant that he himself passed on the baton to his successor. 

  To watch that knock of Virat Kohli, Click Here.