Virat Kohli Gives A Major Fitness Update After 100 vs Pakistan

Virat Kohli has continued his purple patch against Pakistan in the ICC tournament, as he has won the Player of the Match award for the fifth time in ICC events thanks to his unbeaten knock of 100 runs in 111 deliveries. After the bowlers did all the heavy lifting, the Delhi batter sealed the deal.

The six-wicket victory with almost 40 balls to spare has almost confirmed India’s qualification for the semifinal of the eight-team tournament, which Pakistan can pack their bags with a near possible elimination from the competition.

Virat Kohli happy to control spin in the middle overs

One of the issues for the batter of late across the formats has been his struggle against the spinners. Whether in the home Test series against New Zealand, where Mitchell Santer got him on several occasions, or against England in the ODI series, where Adil Rashid had his number, Kohli went through a very tough time.

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However, he didn’t let Pakistan put pressure on him. It was the Virat of the old time, who quite comfortably kept on taking singles in the middle overs, besides putting vital partnerships with Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer.

"To be honest, it feels good to be able to bat in that manner in an important game to seal qualification. It feels good to contribute in a game where we lost Rohit early, had to put in the understanding of what we learned in the last game.” Virat Kohli expressed this at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Kohli became the fastest to reach 14000 ODI runs, overtaking Sachin Tendulkar. In the 17 ODI innings, the former Indian captain has notched up 778 runs at an average of nearly 60 and a strike rate of 98.86, thanks to two fifties and four centuries.

Virat Kohli praises Shubman Gill’s top ranking in ODIs

Rohit Sharma made an aggressive start but returned to the pavilion with a cracking swinging yorker from Shaheen Shah Afridi/. But Shubman Gill, who smashed two successive centuries to get back his top-rank ODI batting in the world, took down Afridi in the powerplay with a run-a-ball 35 runs.

“Having clarity is important, it was important to understand that you need to get runs when there is pace on the ball; otherwise, the spinners can dictate things. Shubman did well against Shaheen, and took him up.” Virat Kohli addressed in the presentation.

“There's a reason he's the number one batter of the world. It was necessary to get about 60-70 runs in the powerplay, or we'd always be chasing the game. And there, Shreyas is coming into his own at number 4. Did well in India, and now out here as well.” The 36-year-old highlighted.

Virat Kohli to take care of fitness before New Zealand clash

The Dubai heat was incredible on February 23, more than what it was on February 20 during the India and Bangladesh clash. Still, a young batter, Towhid Hridoy, who smashed a century, couldn’t run with cramps for nearly the last 10 overs.

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That is the difference with Kohli, who fielded for nearly 50 overs in the heat and batted for around 40 overs in the evening. But he aims to put his feet up before the New Zealand clash, which is around a week to go.

“To be honest, at 36, it feels really good. Will put my feet up for a few days as it takes a lot out of me to put that kind of effort into every game.” Virat Kohli concluded.