Holy smokes! - Kevin Pietersen in awe of Virat Kohli's six off a flick against West Indies

Indian superstar Virat Kohli played one of the best innings one would ever hope to see in a Twenty20 run chase to help the Men in Blue pull off their best-ever run-chase in their history of the shortest format of the game. The pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad proved to be an absolute belter of a track as more than 400 runs and 28 sixes were racked up between both sides. 

It was one of those typical Hyderabad tracks and India needed something special if they were to harbour any change of leapfrogging the total of 207 set by the defending world champions. The Men in Blue lost Rohit Sharma early but KL Rahul continued with his good run-of-form and get the asking run-rate in check, even as Virat Kohli was struggling for timing initially.

Kohli, during his first 25-26 balls did not seem to be in his touch. He was hitting the ball hard and hence wasn’t able to generate any timing. But, as all champions do, they find a way out of it. And, Kohli did that with absolute precision. It all changed with that Jason Holder over where his top-edge went for a six followed by a full-toss which he nonchalantly smoked past midwicket. Post that, out came his cover drives, lofted sixes and then, of course, the flick off Kesrick Williams.

Whenever Kohli plays that flick off his legs, everyone watching goes in awe and the same happened with former England captain Kevin Pietersen, who took to Instagram and commented on the status that Kohli had shared post the victory where he wrote, “Your flick this evening was quite something, bro! Holy smokes!”

Virat Kohli was brutally honest about his innings

After having racked up his highest T20I score in a winning cause, you would hope the batsman to be gushing about his exploits. However, Kohli was brutally honest about his knock. The Indian captain admitted that he was playing the ball hard initially and even asked the kids not to follow the first half of his innings

“To young batsmen watching, don’t follow the first half of my innings. I was batting poorly at that time. Luckily got that one over from Holder, and then I began to analyze why I’m going wrong. Realized I’m not a slogger but a timer instead, and then changed my playing style,” Kohli had said in the post-match presentation.

His second part of the innings where he scored 70 off 25 balls was a stuff of legends though, as India went on to chase their highest-ever T20I total and extend their winning streak against the West Indies to seven matches now.

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