“The Indian team is dangerous only on one condition: when Virat plays brilliantly. I am telling this clearly. There are many factors and people term other batsmen as dangerous but for me, Virat is zabardast.[magnificient]. If India has to win the World Cup, Virat’s performance like this can win them the World Cup. If they think that they can win the World Cup without Virat, it’s not possible,” Inzamam-ul-Haq piled on the raves on his YouTube channel The Match Winner.
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Inzamam made a differentiation between high-scoring batsmen and match-winners in his tribute to Kohli.
“Some players cannot win matches despite scoring runs but there are some players who win such matches for their teams single handedly and in pressure. Virat [Kohli] is such a player and has his own class,” Inzamam-ul-Haq said.
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Looking ahead into the world cup, Inzamam stressed on the importance of Kohli regaining form early in the tournament.
“Indian performance is related to only one person. That’s Virat Kohli. India was struggling for a long time due to Virat’s poor form. Now he has come back and it gives India an edge in upcoming matches in the World cup,” Inzamam said. “The good thing for India is that Virat has regained his form. And it happened in such a match against Pakistan. It could have happened in any World Cup match. But it happened in the first match against Pakistan only.”
While India were struggling at 31 for 4 at one point in the match, Kohli and Hardik Pandya stitched together a partnership of 113 runs for the fifth wicket for India. Kohli was the dominant one in the partnership hitting 69 runs off 41 balls as compared to Pandya’s 40 runs off 37 balls.
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“Both Virat and Pandya were playing well in the partnership. The main thing was that Kohli maintained the flow after the fall of Pandya’s wicket. He did not let pressure overtake his mind. He had the pressure that he is the well set batsman but the way he played the last two overs was his class. The two sixes he hit off Haris Rauf, that was some class,” Inzamam said.
The former Pakistani batsman rated India’s chances of winning the T20 World Cup based on only Virat Kohli. While the spotlight has been on the likes of Surya Kumar Yadav and Indian captain Rohit Sharma ahead of the World Cup, Inzamam felt Virat’s class would make the difference.
“All credit for the Indian team should be given to Virat Kohli. The way he played was fantastic,” Inzamam said. “Virat is only this type of player and it’s not like that he did something which he has not done or can’t do. He played well and it was a superb knock. He has the potential that he can win matches single handedly. There are many players who can win matches single handedly. Some players cannot win matches despite scoring runs but there are some players who win such matches for their teams single handedly and in pressure. Virat is such a player and has his own class.”
