“This is fabulous”: Sanjay Manjrekar describes Virat Kohli four off Haris Rauf in Dubai T20I

Sanjay Manjrekar describes Virat Kohli four: The former Indian captain played a couple of exquisite shots tonight.

During the second match of Asia Cup 2022 between India and Pakistan in Dubai, former India captain Virat Kohli provided signs of finding form but failed to convert his start into a match-winning innings.

Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the first over itself, Kohli’s innings comprised of him riding on oodles of luck. For someone who has been unfortunate on several occasions in the recent past, Kohli was fortunate to have witnessed Fakhar Zaman dropping him at second slip on the second ball that he faced.

With the Pakistan fast bowlers moving the new ball at will, Kohli played numerous unconvincing shots to survive despite the ball hitting the edges of his bat. In fact, Kohli’s solitary six of the night had also come via a top-edge.

Sanjay Manjrekar describes Virat Kohli four off Haris Rauf in Dubai T20I

It was on the penultimate delivery of the second over when Kohli played his first scoring shot with confidence as a short Shahnawaz Dahani delivery was pulled with a stamp of authority through the mid-wicket region.

On the second delivery of the sixth over, Kohli played the shot of the night bringing back his archetype short-arm jab. Facing Haris Rauf, Kohli hit a short delivery over mid-wicket with sheer domination.

“This is fabulous,” former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar described Kohli’s boundary while calling the match for Star Sports Network.

Just when India needed captain Rohit Sharma (12) and Kohli (35) to build on a 46-ball 49-run partnership for the second wicket, both the senior Indian batters got out in successive overs trying to play identical shots against the same bowler. Wanting to attack Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz, both Sharma and Kohli ended up hitting the ball to Iftikhar Ahmed at long-off.

Kohli, who hit three fours and a six at a strike rate of 102.94, repeating the same mistake as his captain put on display a disappointing sight in the form of his dismissal at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.