Dhoni praises Kohli's 'tremendous character'

Barnaby Read 23:45 27/03/2016
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  • MS Dhoni paid tribute to Virat Kohli's match-winning 82* against Australia.

    CHANDIGARH, India — Fickle is a phrase that has been bandied about the press conferences of the World T20 as freely as a swing of Chris Gayle’s bat but there were no such adjectives here in Mohali as the brilliance of Virat Kohli once again led India to victory in a run chase.

    Described as a frequent change to one’s loyalties or affections, Kohli shows no sign of giving up on steering his side to glory and producing “fickle” innings.

    In successful T20I run chases Kohli now has 737 runs from 15 innings at an average of 122.83, strike-rate of 131.13 and eight 50s.

    His unbeaten 82 against Australia is his highest in those instances and considering the pressure he was under and manner in which he scored the runs it is probably his best.

    Defeated Australia captain Steve Smith described it as a “pretty special innings”, his victorious India counterpart MS Dhoni went with “incredible”.

    Neither of them were wrong, Kohli’s 82 coming off 51 balls on a slow, sticky track that was by no means an easy place to score runs.

    Kohli facts

    • Fastest batsman to 1,000 T20i runs in T20Is.
    • ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012.
    • Twice BCCI international player of the year.
    • 2014 ICC World T20 Player of the Tournament.

    “He’s shifting in the right direction and he has a tremendous character. He’s just batting amazingly well. He’s fantastic, he’s fit, he can field anywhere,” said Dhoni of his vice-captain.

    “I’m not someone like Virat who can hit over cover, mid-wicket square leg, third man. I know my areas and if it’s there I like to clear the boundary.

    “It was tremendous batting effort by [Kohli], especially the areas where you want to score runs and where you want to play the big shots. I think overall he was very good.”

    Kohli peppered the boundary nine times and cleared the ropes twice, robotically finding gaps and maneuvering the field at will all around the ground.

    And although Kohli’s heroics sent Australia packing, Smith was full of nothing but praise for the India star’s efforts.

    “I thought we were in a pretty good position there with them needing around two a ball. I thought 160 was about par on that wicket and it took a seriously unbelievable innings under pressure by Virat Kohli to get his team over the line,” said Smith.

    “It just wasn’t to be tonight, it was the Virat show. He really took over and to get 80 not out off 50 balls on a wicket like that – it was quite slow and the ball was quite soft at the end there – it was quite remarkable.”

    India now face the West Indies in the second semi-final on March 31 in Mumbai.

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