On October 23 last, Virat Kohli unleashed masterly strokeplay against Pakistani bowlers to steer India to a four-wicket win in the side's opening match of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 82 off 53 deliveries, smashing six fours and four sixes to help India chase down a 160-run target in the iconic clash in Melbourne. In Kohli's own words, it was his best T20I innings; the batter had endured a rough patch with the bat for a majority of the year, and even took a break from the game for a month after India's tour of England in August.
En route to the knock, one of Kohli's sixes left the fans and former cricketers in awe; on a length delivery against Haris Rauf, Kohli gave himself room to dispatch the delivery right over the fast bowler's head for a maximum. Even the bowler was left stunned with the shot and over a month later, Haris has finally opened up on the incredible six from Kohli in the game.
"The way he [Kohli] played in the World Cup, that is his class, we all know the types of shots he plays. And the way he hit those sixes, I don’t think any other player can hit a shot like that off my bowling," Haris Rauf told news outlet Cricwick.
“If Dinesh Karthik or Hardik Pandya would’ve hit those sixes, I would’ve been hurting but those came off Kohli’s bat and he is a different class altogether,” he further said.
India required 31 runs to win from the 12 deliveries in the game when Haris Rauf started brilliantly in the first four balls, giving away only 3 runs. With the scoreboard pressure mounting, Kohli decided to take on the speedster as he smashed Haris for two successive sixes to end the over.
“Look, India required 31 off the last 12 balls. I had given away only three runs off four deliveries. I knew Nawaz was bowling the last over, he is a spinner and I had tried to leave at least four big boundaries for him and leave at least more than 20 runs," said Rauf.
"And since 28 were required off eight balls, I had bowled three slower balls and he was deceived. I had only bowled one quick ball out of four. So the idea was to bowl a slower one on that back-of-a-length zone since the boundary was larger on the square side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv1MQ_en2rQ
“I had no idea that he can hit me down the ground off that length. So when he hit that shot off me, that’s his class. My plan and execution was fine but that shot was all class,” said Haris Rauf.