Showing posts with label Virat Kohli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virat Kohli. Show all posts

Friday, December 25, 2009

Kohli recalls Sachin's call on U-19 WC


India's 2008 U-19 WC winning captain Virat Kohli said Sachin chipped in with advice before his team took on SA in the final match.

Kohli, who led India to victory in Malaysia last year, said, "Ahead of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup final, everyone back home was overwhelmed and believed we had a very good chance to win the trophy.

"Therefore, I started getting more telephone calls with everyone advising me to relax and not to panic, which actually put more pressure on me.

"However, the most special telephone call I received was from Sachin Tendulkar who was on the tour to Australia with Team India. He talked to me at length and advised me how I should approach the final," he said on this week's ICC Cricket World audio show.

In that fateful day, India were bowled out for a paltry 159 by South Africa in the final.
Reflecting on that day, Kohli said "I just told the boys that we have nothing left in the tournament except one last session. So, let's go out there and give all we have. We took the field to defend the small total with that killing instinct and rest is history.

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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Gambhir, Kohli seal series for India


Centuries from Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli helped India defeat Sri Lanka by seven wickets to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

Upul Tharanga had hit a superb 118 and Kumar Sangakkara made a fine 60 as the visitors reached an imposing 315 for six after choosing to bat first in the fourth one-day international in Kolkata.
However, Gambhir struck an undefeated 150 and Kohli made 107 - his maiden century - the two adding 224 for the third wicket as India easily overhauled the target.

After the tourists opted to bat, India began well with the ball, conceding a measly nine from five immaculate overs sent down by new-ball bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra.

But Tillakaratne Dilshan broke the shackles by driving Nehra through the covers in the sixth over for the first boundary and from then on India gradually lost control.

Nehra, who had dropped Tharanga on seven when he failed to hold on to a fairly straightforward return catch, went some way to atoning for that error by snaring Dilshan early and Sanath Jayasuriya, batting at three, also departed cheaply.

But then Sangakkara, who was handed a reprieve before he was even off the mark when Harbhajan Singh squandered a simple chance at third man, and Tharanga built a solid base.

Tharanga, who increased the tempo by hitting Ishant Sharma for five boundaries in the paceman's first over, continued to bat steadily alongside his captain.

The pair scored easily off the spinners and struck timely boundaries as they added 126 for the third wicket, Tharanga reaching his seventh ODI century in the process.

The partnership was ended when the Sri Lanka captain was smartly stumped by Dinesh Karthik as he was too far out and across while attempting to help a Harbhajan delivery down to fine leg.

Tharanga followed Sangakkara back to the pavilion quickly after, but Sri Lanka's middle-order kicked on.

Perera chipped in with a 14-ball 31, while cameos from Mahela Jayawardene (33) and Thilina Kandamby (23 not out from 15) helped Sri Lanka to a strong total.

India's response to Sri Lanka's total began badly, the home side losing both openers with a mere 23 runs on the board.

Suranga Lakmal, who shared the new ball with debutant Thissara Perera, claimed stand-in-captain Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in successive overs.

Those early blows brought Gambhir and Kohli together, the two steadying the ship with a calm and sensible approach.

Kohli injected momentum by hammering Lasith Malinga for four consecutive blows in the paceman's first over and in a period when boundaries were easily available.

The duo then easily negotiated the spinners, rotating the strike nicely and although the run rate dropped considerably, India were well in control.

Kohli was first to his century and Gambhir followed a delivery later, reaching his seventh ODI century in 101 deliveries.

Kohli then attempted to step up the pace and succeeded by hitting the first six of the innings - in the 39th over - but perished soon after while attempting another off Suraj Randiv.

Their 224-run stand was only 13 short of a record highest third-wicket partnership.

India still needed a further 69 from little more than 10 overs at that stage, but Gambhir narrowed the gap by hitting Perera and then Lakmal for successive boundaries.

Gambhir, with Karthik for company, got India across the line, finishing off the chase with boundary off the first ball of the penultimate over.

Teams:
India: V Sehwag*, SR Tendulkar, G Gambhir, V Kohli, SK Raina, KD Karthik†, RA Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Nehra, I Sharma.

Sri Lanka: WU Tharanga, TM Dilshan, KC Sangakkara*†, DPMD Jayawardene, SHT Kandamby, CK Kapugedera, S Randiv, KMDN Kulasekara, BAW Mendis, SL Malinga, NLTC Perera.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Lensmen fight with Virat Kohli

NAGPUR: It turned out to be a wicked Wednesday for Virat Kohli. The Delhi middle-order batsman not only had to sit out of the second ODI after doing reasonably well in the first match at Vadodara but he also got involved in a fight with photographers at Jamtha just before the match started.

After the toss, Kohli, Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar were enjoying their own little game of cricket along with some local boys near the pavilion. When Kohli was knocking, one of his shots went through the hands of a fielder and almost hit the camera of one of the photographers who were sitting with their equipment behind the advertisement hoardings.

As soon as the ball went past the lensmen, a concerned photographer shouted and asked Kohli to practice at some other place. When Kohli refused to pay attention, all the photographers started abusing both Kohli and Praveen Kumar, who was asking the mediamen to calm down.

Stunned by the abuse, Kohli and Praveen too started using foul language at the lensmen. The situation became tense at one point when Kohli came within the handshaking distance of the lensmen as exchange of abuses continued.

Just when the situation looked to be getting out of control, Praveen and some Vidarbha Cricket Association officials, including vice-president Rajeev Gokhale, rushed to Kohli and helped in cooling down the tempers.

The incident certainly made the Delhi youngster furious as he thought he was doing nothing wrong in knocking the ball around with the local boys. On the other hand, the lensmen insisted that the cricketer had no business knocking near their expensive equipment.

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