On 20th June 2011, India squared off against West Indies where a young guy made his debut in the longest format of the game. The guy is none other than, Virat Kohli. His illustrious career and amazing Test journey started today 12 years ago. After playing for more than a decade, Kohli has managed to impress everyone with his aggressive style of cricket.
Speaking about the same, former England skipper Kevin Pietersen praised Kohli and said that he is a wonderful player of spin. After knowing that Kohli has been dismissed by stumping just once in his Test career, Pietersen praised him. He said, “He [Virat Kohli] is a wonderful player of spin, and you sort of understand it because they play spin off the back foot and have such beautiful wrists. You hardly ever see Virat running down, charging, and going all guns blazing, and he certainly doesn’t sweep, reverse sweep. I mean, you can watch him bat. Mentally, you can see him batting there, so you can sort of understand that.”
Pietersen’s remarks came after former England skipper Joe Root was stumped by Alex Carey off Nathan Lyon on Day 4 of the ongoing first Test of Ashes 2023. After facing 6903 deliveries in Test cricket and playing 130 matches, Root was dismissed by stumping. Root was dismissed for 46 runs off 55 balls with the help of five boundaries and a six.
Kumar Sangakkara also lauds Virat Kohli’s batting technique
Speaking about the same, former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara also praised Kohli for his technique to tackle spin in Test cricket. He said, “He [Kohli] is also a kind of IPL mode, isn’t it? A lot of these players are very happy step-hitting from the crease. So, they don’t allow bowlers to bowl on a length, so the old art of having to use your feet against spin is gone, or they don’t do it anymore. You drop down and work a single. No, just stay in the crease and hit it out of the park. That’s true.”
It’s worth noting that, Virat Kohli is currently spending time with family as he is on vacation. After failing against Australia in the World Test Championship finals, the Indian team is having one month off from cricket. The team will face West Indies in two-match Test series starting on July 12 to kick off their WTC 2023-25 campaign. The Indian team will also participate in Asia Cup, World Cup and Afghanistan series later this year.
Here is how fans react to Kevin Pietersen’s comments:
https://twitter.com/oyenakss/status/1671045890424070145?s=20
Well said !! pic.twitter.com/oYdflKUNwS
— Shreyy ? (@Sadly_shrey) June 20, 2023
Kohli is tiger of Indian team ?? pic.twitter.com/TZC4rEdGPs
— Anoop Mishra (@imanup45) June 20, 2023
Had he said in this in 2019 would have agreed, since then his spin game has gone down considerably. Even ordinary spinners are picking his wickets for fun these days.
— Troll cricket unlimitedd (@TUnlimitedd) June 20, 2023
Sarcastic
— Ganguly (@cricketgoa88598) June 20, 2023
has he seen virat play against spin in last three years. he looks clueless against spin even on flat decks. dont have any aggressive option to put pressure instead he just knock for singles even in pp ???????kp pr for ind and virat is too much ????????
— Kawal7828 (@kawal7828) June 20, 2023
hes good player against spin
not necessarily a huge striker of spin
traditionally good
t20 style bad
— Dileep Thoutam (@dileepthoutam) June 20, 2023
that's a limitation not a strength ? he has very limited options vs spin
— ameer ? (@amee7ing) June 20, 2023
Kuch nahi bass Kohli ko thareef karo aur pr badao ?
— MSD (@KevinTejas1) June 20, 2023
https://twitter.com/bruce_kane1/status/1671047800984059904?s=20
Chokli wasn't able to play Bangladesh spinner ????
— Rahul Sharma (@RahulSh24082787) June 20, 2023
Then what does he do ???
— OpiniOnist (@zerocaress) June 20, 2023
Dismissed 29 times in his last 40 games vs spin ??
— ? (@ItsHitmanERA) June 20, 2023
KP is very smart he knows 80% of revenues came from india so just keep praising top indian players and all the indian fans will be happy ?
— Stiffmeister (@chico91617929) June 20, 2023
