We caught the last few overs of the ODI between India and Sri Lanka in Hobart last night. India needed to chase down Sri Lanka's impressive 320, AND score a bonus point to have a chance to make the Commonwealth Bank Series finals. To do that they had to score the runs in 40 overs, not the normal 50.
In the event, India won the match with ease posting 321 for three in just 36.4 overs. The star of the show was India's best batsman this summer, Virat Kohli who scored 133 not out from just 86 balls. With Suresh Raina, Kohli added 120 runs in just over nine overs of sublime batting.
Kohli has been the one Indian batsman who will leave Australia with an enhanced reputation. He's proof positive that the Indian batting sausage factory will continue to churn out talented players of the ilk of the Nawab of Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar for some time to come.
The most impressive aspect of Kohli's innings was that he was playing wonderful cricket strokes; drives down the ground and through the covers, and deft flicks through the leg side. His timing was superb, and one cover drive will live in the memory as the ball flew across the turf like a tracer bullet.
So what part has T-20 played in this? We reckon that it's given batsmen far more experience in pacing an innings, and ramping up the scoring rate when necessary. And there's not necessarily a need for crude slogs through mid-wicket, as Kohli and Raina showed last night. T-20 has become more refined, and it's now starting to benefit ODI's as well, where a batting first score of 250 is meat and drink now for the chasers, as evidenced by AB de Villiers and co on Saturday.
If you get a chance to see Kohli's innings replayed, take it. It was one of the best ODI innings we've seen for some time, and we suspect that Virat Kohli is going to cause heartache to bowlers around the globe - Lasith Malinga went for 96 last night, from 7.4 overs - a whole lot of pain and suffering.
3 comments:
Yeah, 250 is the new barely defensible score now, the way 200 was - and is just as unlikely to be defended as 200 was back before T20s. I think it is starting to effect tests too with scores of 400 becoming more common and taking less time to reach than they used to. Run rates of 4 or more are also becoming more common in test cricket.
I've been saying for a while now to anyone that will listen that T20 has taught batsmen how to score rapidly with genuine cricket shots, ie controlled aggression, compared to the old pure aggression approach some batsmen used to take.
Had to give Kohli a post of his own...
Yeah, t20 cricket helped india a lot. without it ,it would be impossible for india to achieve the target in 36 overs.
cricket india
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