Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar on Friday gave his verdict on Virat Kohli's aggressive batting during the second T20I against West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Kohli scored a 41-ball 52 in India's eight-run series-clinching win.
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Kohli on Friday came out all guns blazing hitting five boundaries in the powerplay after opener Ishan Kishan's early dismissal in the game. Combining with captain Rohit Sharma and then Rishabh Pant, Kohli revived India before scoring his 30th T20I fifty.
Shedding light on Kohli's new approach to the game, Gavaskar, in conversation with Star Sports, admitted that some of his shots were refreshing to his eyes and his batting showed a different purpose.
“We have seen Virat Kohli all this while and he is the same. Yes, he played some of those delicate shots - the cut and guide shots - which we normally don't see because he prefers to play in the 'V' and shots which are along the ground most of the time. So to see him play those aerial shots was refreshing because it shows there is a different purpose now. We talk about intent, but his batting showed purpose and that was not to get the bowler get on top because of the early wicket of Ishan Kishan," he said.
Gavaskar also hailed Kohli for his ability to minimise dot balls in a T20I innings by running between the wickets.
“Even Rohit said it that Kohli took the pressure off him. Rohit wasn't in his usual flow today in the match. So you need one man to take the pressure off the other. Also there is running between the wickets. More than anything else with Kohli is that he has got the instinct for a run where a run should be, and instinct that there should be minimum dot balls in an innings,” he added.
Kohli's 52 and a thundering 75-run stand between Pant and Venkatesh Iyer helped India set a mighty target of 187.
West Indies batting pair of Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell threatened to chase it down with their century stand, but were choked in the final three overs by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel as India won by eight runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.