'Great batsmen want to get big 100': Sunil Gavaskar says Virat Kohli will be 'little disappointed'
Speaking on Star Sports during the mid-innings break, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that Kohli would be a bit disappointed not being able to reach the mark.
India captain Virat Kohli was dismissed for 66 in the 2nd ODI against England at Pune on Friday. The right-hander smashed his 62nd half century in the match, his 2nd consecutive in 50-overs format. But he was still unable to get to a hundred as he nicked a delivery off spinner Adil Rashid to the wicketkeeper Jos Buttler behind the stumps.
Kohli's last international hundred was at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata against Bangladesh in the Day/Night Test in November 2019. His last ODI hundred was against Australia in March 2019.
India vs England 2nd ODI - LIVE!
Speaking on Star Sports during the mid-innings break, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that Kohli would be a bit disappointed not being able to reach the mark.
"Well, he will be disappointed to an extent. Because when you are batting so well, have done the hard work, you have got to 60. The batsman of that caliber of that greatness will always go on to get three-figure innings. He hasn't been able to quite get that," Gavaskar said.
Kohli's innings was crucial in the middle as it came after India had lost the two openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan quickly, and the hosts were in need of a solid partnership. Kohli's partnership of 121-run with KL Rahul set the stage of India's heavy-hitters to do the job in the death overs.
With Rishabh Pant smashing 77 runs in 40 balls, and Hardik Pandya adding 35 runs in 16 deliveries, India posted a total of 336/6 in 50 overs.
"He (Kohli) will be happy that he is building a partnership. That England, despite getting early wickets have not been able to go through the batting line-up. He is helping the team get a platform on which the likes of Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Krunal Pandya can play the big shots and take India past 300," Gavaskar said.
"He is making his contribution as a batsman, no question about it. But there will still be a little bit of disappointment. Every batsman has that. If you get out for 5, 6 in the early stages, you know you got out. You can't do much.
"But when you get to 50-60, every batsman in the world wants to get to a hundred. Great batsmen want to get a big 100, and he is not getting it. So he will be a little bit disappointed for sure," Gavaskar signed off.
