Haris Rauf claims that only the unrivaled Virat Kohli could have struck him for two sixes during India’s exciting victory over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup encounter back in October.
According to Haris Rauf, only the unrivaled Virat Kohli was capable of hitting him for two sixes during India’s exciting victory over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup encounter back in October. Rauf revealed to a Pakistani news outlet for the first time that he would have felt “hurt” if Hardik Pandya or Dinesh Karthik had hit him in the same way. India defeated their bitter rivals Pakistan by four wickets thanks to an unbeaten 83 from Virat Kohli off 52 balls.
First, Kohli lofted Rauf down the ground with a back-foot punch for the ages, and then he flicked him behind square to virtually end the game in the previous over, needing 28 runs off the penultimate over.
I don’t think any other player is capable of hitting the kind of shots that he plays, and I certainly don’t think any other player could hit the two sixes that he hit. Rauf said in an interview for the website ‘Cricwick’, “Had Dinesh Karthik or Hardik Pandya struck me like that, I would have been harmed, but that was Kohli, and that’s different class.
Rauf still doesn’t understand how the first six went down so easily after a month.
I had no clue that Kohli could knock me to the floor from that distance. To show his sophistication, he made that shot off me. I thought my strategy and execution were solid, but that shot was flawless.
However, Kohli’s brilliance derailed Rauf’s plans to give left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz a 20-run lead going into the last over.
Look, India needed to score 31 runs in the final 12 balls. I had given out only three runs off four deliveries. I knew Nawaz was bowling the last over, he is a spinner and I had attempted 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 the last eight balls, I bowled three slower ones and he was misled. I had only bowled one rapid ball out of four. So the aim was to bowl a slower one on that back-of-a-length zone since the dimensions of the square boundary were bigger.”
After the last Test of the 2018–19 series was played at the SCG, Rauf said he bowled to Kohli in the India nets and the two got along well.
During a match in Sydney, I bowled at the Indian team while playing for a Grade 1 club. Virat Kohli, K.L. Rahul, and Ravi Shastri have all welcomed me with open arms. In fact, Ravi Shastri expressed his delight at my progress and accomplishment to me throughout the World Cup.
“Kohli has also shown a great deal of gratitude. I remember you bowling in our nets; it’s great to see you succeed on the world stage.
