Srinagar: Echoeing the words of former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Hafeez that Virat Kohli slowed down before reaching completing historic 49th ton in ODI cricket against South Africa, former India opener Gautam Gambhir said Kohli’s slowing down could have hurt India in the match.
Virat Kohli scored his historic 49th century at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. In the ICC Cricket World 2023 match, India hammered Proteas by 243 runs.
Gambhir, in conversation with Sportskeeda, felt that Kohli did slow down towards the end of his innings, which could have hurt India had it been a good pitch.
“It was important for Kohli to bat deep and I feel it was at the end, just the last 5-6 overs where he slowed down a bit, maybe because he was nearing a century. But I believe there were already enough runs on the board. It could have hurt India if they were batting on a good pitch,” he said.
“You got to give credit to Shreyas Iyer for the way he kept taking chances and took the pressure off Virat Kohli. Both batted really well in the middle as the best time to bat was with the new ball. They expertly negotiated Keshav Maharaj and giving him just one wicket when Jadeja picked five was brilliant.”