“Kohli Vs Rauf was like Tendulkar Vs Akhtar,” Ravi Shastri says Virat Kohli’s MCG knock brought back memories of Sachin Tendulkar’s knock against Pakistan in 2003 World Cup

The former head coach of India, Ravi Shastri, has said that the way Virat Kohli took Haris Rauf down in the T20 World Cup game against Pakistan last Sunday was very similar to how Sachin Tendulkar took Shoaib Akhtar down in that famous 50-over World Cup game in South Africa in 2003.

The India Vs Pakistan game on Sunday at MCG was looking very much in favor of Pakistan when India needed 28 runs off just 8 balls and it was turning out to be very difficult to find boundaries against one of Pakistan’s premier fast bowlers Haris Rauf.

But, at that very point of time, Virat Kohli played two of the most unbelievable shots one can expect to see against an extremely fast bowler on a bouncy surface. The first six that Kohli hit Rauf off the 5th ball of the 19th over was a backfoot punch straight down the ground and he did that without the bowler providing him a lot of room.

And, then off the last ball of the 19th over, when Rauf tried to cramp Kohli for the room even more and erred a bit on the leg side in his attempt to cramp Kohli, Kohli played a whipping flick over the head of the deep fine leg fielder, sailing into the stands for another six to bring the equation down for India from 28 off 8 to 16 off 6.

That knock of Kohli has silenced the critics: Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri, while talking to the Indian Express, said that the shot Kohli played straight down the ground off a back-of-length delivery from Rauf, it reminded him of the memorable six that Sachin Tendulkar had hit against Shoaib Akhtar over the deep point boundary in the India Vs Pakistan game of 2003 ODI World Cup.

Shastri also had a go at the media and said that those people in the media who were having a consistent go at Kohli for the last couple of years for a slight dip in his performance, have all been silenced by that knock.

Ravi Shastri (in The Indian Express) said "Media and critics have put lots of pressure on Virat Kohli but I knew he will bounce back because he is tough and now he has silenced everyone with his bat".

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 25, 2022