Virat Kohli. | (Image Credits: BCCI X)
Former Team India coach Ravi Shastri heaped praise on Virat Kohli, claiming that his approach in one-day cricket well and truly reminds him of Javed Miandad. Shastri’s comments came on the back of Kohli’s measured innings of 84 against Australia in the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final on Tuesday.
Chasing a stiff 265 for victory, the right-handed batter dug deep on a tricky surface, albeit against Australia’s inexperienced bowling attack. Nevertheless, Kohli ran briskly between the wickets and hit only five boundaries in his innings. He got out when India were 40 runs away from victory but the Men in Blue eventually won by four wickets.
Speaking on the show ‘Dressing Room’, Shastri stated that Kohli is in complete control of his game when he is running hard between the wickets, reminding him some of the greatest one-day players of the past. He stated:
“He is at his best. He reminds me a lot of great one-day players of the past, someone like Javed Miandad. If you look at Javed Miandad’s innings, it would be match-winning innings, few boundaries but the running between the wickets, ones, twos, the energies, takes the pressure off the non-striker. He doesn’t allow the scoreboard to be stagnant, it’s moving all the time and that’s Kohli for you. When he is at his best, very few boundaries and sixes, fantastic running between the wickets. Then you know he is in control. He has got a gameplan in place.”
“He has done it for us for so many years” – Rohit Sharma on Virat Kohli
At the post-match presentation, skipper Rohit Sharma believes the 91-run stand between Kohli and Shreyas Iyer was quite decisive and credited Hardik Pandya for his cameo in the end. He stated:
“He has done it for us for so many years. We were very calm. We wanted that big stand which Shreyas and Virat had. Then the shots by Hardik in the end were very important. Very happy with that. When you want to play the final, you want all your guys in form. That is something that gives us a lot of confidence. We will not think too much about it. When the time comes, we will think about it.”
