Gautam Gambhir was left impressed with India’s batting performance in the series decider on Saturday and feels Virat Kohli’s team put up a ‘perfect’ batting display against England in Ahmedabad in the 5th T20I. Put in to bat, India posted a mammoth score of 224/2 which was their highest total against England in T20Is with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma peeling off half-centuries.
The duo put on 94 runs for the opening wicket before Rohit Sharma played on. From there, skipper Virat Kohli who promoted himself as an opener took control of proceedings and remained not out till the end, scoring 80 off 52 balls.
Gautam Gambhir Reckons India Would Not Have Reached 224 If Suryakumar Yadav And Hardik Pandya Didn’t Contribute
However, as good a knock that was from Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir feels India wouldn’t have been able to get to the daunting total had it not been for the notable contributions from Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya.
“Mostly there have been times when a team gets off to a flier – six overs 60 runs – but there is a phase after those six overs, where the team tries to push it back, especially the bowling team. But if you see Suryakumar Yadav’s innings, if you can get that 30-odd off 17 balls and you can continue that same momentum, it’s always difficult.”
Playing his second innings in international cricket, Suryakumar Yadav raced to 32 off 17 balls with three fours and two sixes and added 49 quick runs with skipper Virat Kohli before getting out to Adil Rashid.
Then came Hardik Pandya, who smoked 39 not out off 17 balls, hitting four boundaries and two sixes, and along with Virat Kohli, allowed India to continue scoring at a healthy run-rate till the end. Gautam Gambhir gave Virat Kohli the duo credit for playing anchor, he feels Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya’s innings made a huge difference.
Gautam Gambhir: Virat Kohli Was Expected To Bat Throughout
KL Rahul’s repeated failures at the top prompted skipper Virat Kohli to promote himself up the batting order and the decision paid rich dividends. India’s opening partnerships registered scores of 2, 0, 7, 21 in the first four T20Is before Rohit Sharma (64) and Virat Kohli (80 not out) teamed up to add 94 runs for 1st wicket in the series decider.
KL Rahul’s poor run saw him score 1, 0, 0, and 14 in the first 4 T20I matches of the 5 match series.
“It’s easy for Virat Kohli because he’s been in and he’s batted for six overs. But suddenly after coming out to bat after six overs, and playing at that tempo and Hardik Pandya coming in and playing on that tempo, it’s a different ball game,” Gambhir said.
“Yes, Kohli batted throughout and you expect Virat to do that. If he bats through, he will get a strike rate of probably 140. But then it’s those difficult runs which I was mentioning about, how important it is after six overs. So what they – Surya and Hardik – did was commendable. Can’t be perfect that this… from start till the end.”
Apart from Rohit Sharma’s 64 and Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 80, Suryakumar Yadav scored 32 off 17 balls and Hardik Pandya played a cameo towards the end by being unbeaten on 39 off 17 balls. Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 80 was laced with 7 fours and 2 sixes and came off 52 balls. All the Indian batsmen had a strike rate of above 150.