Mirpur: “This is the best innings I have ever seen,” is how Pakistan skipper Misbah ul Haq described young Indian batsman Virat Kohli’s majestic knock of 183 here on Sunday.
Kohli’s career-best knock came off just 148 balls and the sensational victory kept India’s chances to make the final of the tournament alive.
“They did wonderfully. It was excellent innings by Kohli. The best innings (Kohli) I have ever seen. Credit goes to their batsmen, it’s easy out there under lights. But 329 is still a good score,” Misbah said after the match.
Misbah said Pakistan, who have already made the final, will sort out their grey areas and come strong in the summit clash.
Kohli himself was stunned with what he did with the bat for India.
“I still cannot believe what happened out there. It was a crunch game for us. I could execute my plans against a tough side and it is really satisfying,” Kohli said.
Asked what he was thinking when Gautam Gambhir departed in the second ball of the innings, Kohli said,” One thing in my ind was that it was a good wicket to bat. We need to build partnerships. We kept wickets in hand and that helped.”
During his terrific knock, Kohli rattled up a 172-run partnership with Rohit Sharma (68), which was key to India’s easy win.
Kohli was full of praise for Sharma.
“I am a big fan of Rohit. I love watch him bat. It was a pleasure to bat with him. It was one of the best chases we had. So very satisfying.
It was India’s highest successful run chase ever.
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said it was frustrating to see Pakistan score so many runs on the board. “When they were batting as a captain, you cannot do much. They batted brilliantly. We used eight bowlers and when you use eight bowlers it means things are not going your way. It still was a good wicket under lights but you still needed partnerships,” Dhoni said.
Dhoni was also all praise for young Indian guns –Virat and Rohit.”Sachin and Virat batted brilliantly, Rohit can be a good finisher. He was calm and cool. Kohli was brilliant. It never looked he slogged. He played proper cricketing shots,” he said. (PTI)