The great Virat Kohli has placed more importance on having the ability to add new strokes as a batter rather than focusing on technique alone.
The 35-year-old himself displayed the ability to come up with special shots when he smashed Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf for back-to-back sixes in the T20 World Cup last year.
One was a straight six off a length ball, dubbed as the shot of the century, which Kohli himself could not explain post the game, and the other was a pick-up shot over fine leg.
Ahead of Diwali, Kohli looked back at that Rauf over and the match-winning 82 not out off 53 balls while speaking to Star Sports.
“There is one thing that is practice on technique and on skill. There is one where you think about techniques that you can use to win the match, or if I can play like this, this is an improvement for sure.
“A lot of people don’t know this... Improvement happens when you think ‘what can I add to my game to win the match’. You don’t do it to become a complete batsman. Very few people know that to technically look good, you don’t practice; it is so that I can learn a new shot and I can score runs for the team and win the match.
“I can cover all the spaces and score runs, and that should be the motivation,” said Kohli.
Recalling the straight six off Rauf on October 23, 2022, the shot that broke the Internet, Kohli said: “I have seen this a lot of times, but these small things in the middle, these are very special because, obviously, you have lived these moments but you haven’t
seen it again.
“Just those little moments are something that I feel very nostalgic about, and in a good way. To this date, I don’t know how I pulled off that shot but it happened.”
Getting a bit emotional about that special moment, the former India captain said: “You realise this in a moment. If anyone came up to me and said when I was 10, that at 35, I would be here, if anyone claimed that they knew what was going to happen... I would have given them everything.
“If they knew what my 25-year journey would be... I didn’t know what was going to happen and how it happened. It just happened; I can’t sit here and claim it. That is a larger package... what I felt that night, I can never forget it in my life. Never. And that is the reason people who saw it felt the same thing. It wasn’t like someone said it or claimed it... The moment had purity, and everyone felt it.”
Vettori pat for Zampa
Pune: Former New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori thinks that Adam Zampa’s control over his length makes the Australian leg-spinner difficult for batters.
Vettori, who is currently Australia’s spin-bowling coach, showered praises on Zampa as he said: “I think his control of his length has been the best that I’ve seen in this period of time, particularly through those three games where he took four wickets in a row and then against England.
“We all know the skills and the variations, but his ability to actually just land the ball on the spot time and time again gave most teams limited opportunities to attack him,” Vettori said ahead of Australia’s last league game against Bangladesh.
Zampa has 20 wickets from eight games at an average of 19.20. Vettori thinks the 31-year-old has been “almost unplayable”. “The England game he didn’t go for a boundary... It is all about the length for him, because all the other skills are there. But when you combine that with that aspect of the game as well, he’s almost unplayable.”
PTI
