Virat Kohli pitched in a T20I match for the first time since March 2016 when he rolled his arms during India’s Asian Cup clash against Hong Kong.
Virat Kohli has established himself as one of the greatest batsmen of all time through his extraordinary hitting, prior to 2020, and also as an efficient fielder. However, it is not often that one gets to see the former India captain roll his arms around him.
Fans got to see that when Kohli bowled for the first time in nearly six years during India’s match against Hong Kong at the 2022 Asian Cup. It was the first time since 2020, when he bowled one in a test match against New Zealand. that he bowled in international cricket and the first time since March 2016 that he bowled in a T20I match.
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Interestingly, Kohli used to be a fairly regular part-time bowler for India and their Royal Challengers Bangalore of the Indian Premier League (IPL) until 2012. His childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma, has said that Albie Morkel’s sensational attack in an over Kohli bowled while playing for Chennai. Super Kings may have had an effect on him picking up the ball less regularly in recent years.
“Virat was always confident as a bowler. Morkel chipped away at his confidence a bit in the past (laughs), but he was always ready to take the ball and he used to say, ‘Give me the ball, I’ll pick the wickets’. So it’s great to see him bowl again,” Sharma told India News Sports.
CSK was chasing a gargantuan target of 206 and was 163/4 when Kohli came in to bowl the 19. Morkel ended up breaking 28 runs in that over, hitting two fours and three sixes, which ended up being the turning point of the match. They then crushed 17 runs in the final to win the match.