"Solid And Powerful He Is": Pakistan Great Shoaib Akhtar On Virat Kohli After Match-Winning Knock vs Pakistan

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar heaped praise on Virat Kohli after the India batter played a match-winning knock against Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup on Sunday. Kohli hit an unbeaten 53-ball 82 with the help of six fours and four sixes as India pulled off a win from the jaws of defeat. Kohli hit Haris Rauf for a six over the umpire's head, which caught the eye of everyone, including Akhtar, who labelled the former India captain "strong and powerful".

"My favourite shot was when Kohli went on the backfoot and hit (Rauf) straight down the ground. That ball went to the third or fourth row. This tells you how solid and powerful he is. He has trained for this and he didn't lose hope," Akhtar said during an interaction on Zee News.

Akhtar added that as long as Kohli was batting in the middle, it was "impossible" for Pakistan to win the game.

"That was the moment I realised that catching Kohli would be impossible today. I was saying that as long as he is standing in the middle, it will be difficult for Pakistan to escape from this," he added.

Kohli's mesmerizing performance followed a tough 18 months on all fronts

He stepped down from the T20I and Test captaincy, and was also sacked as the ODI captain.

The 33-year-old also endured a prolonged lean patch with the bat, not managing a century in any format for almost two years until he hit an unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup last month.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Virat Kohli Shoaib Akhtar ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Cricket