Former India captain Virat Kohli exhibited his quick reflexes to grab a scintillating catch during the ongoing first of a three-match ODI series against West Indies at Kensington Oval, Barbados.
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With half of the West Indian side already back in the hut by the 18th over after being invited to bat first by India captain Rohit Sharma, Kohli was moved to the slips just the previous delivery after batter Romario Shephard (0) was beaten on the outside edge on the first ball that he faced against India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
The very next ball, Jadeja bowled a similar outside-the-off-stump line delivery to Shephard, only a tad fuller this time around. The 28-year-old player decided to flash his bat hard at the ball in an attempt to hit the drive towards the cover-point region. However, the ball managed to hit the thick edge of his bat face and went flying towards the right of Kohli, who was stationed at second slip.
Virat Kohli Catch Today
With just a fraction of second to react, a vigilant Kohli displayed some amazing reflexes and stretched his right hand low towards the fast approaching ball to pluck a praiseworthy one-handed stunner.
His fellow teammates were absolutely cock-a-hoop with the effort of the 34-year-old, and mobbed him in delight as Jadeja scalped his third wicket of the match.
Virat Kohli Joins Ross Taylor Among Most Catches In ODI Cricket
Kohli ranks at the second spot in the list of Indian specialist fielders to have taken the most number of catches in ODI cricket. Grabbing his 142nd catch on Thursday, he is only behind former captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who tops the charts with 156 catches in the format.
Overall, Kohli is now level alongside former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor at the fourth spot. Apart from this trio, readers must note that the list also includes two greats namely Ricky Ponting (160) and Mahela Jayawardene (218).
Co-incidently, both Kohli and Taylor are good friends off-the-field and have shared a good camaraderie with each during their playing days as opponents or together in the Indian Premier League at Royal Challengers Bangalore between 2008-2010. Taylor, who once hailed Kohli as a “sensational player“, had also congratulated him on completing 100 T20Is last year.
