Harvey, who can barely walk and lives a recluse life an hour and-a-half away from Sydney city centre, was excited about how Kohli, almost singlehandedly, batted India to victory. He considered the former India captain a great of the game.
“Kohli played a very good innings and that shot in the 19th over was seriously special,” he said. “There are good players and there are great players. Kohi is a great player and he has made this victory really special for you all,” he added with a glint in his eye.
Walters, one of the best of his generation and someone who would’ve been a perfect fit for white-ball cricket, was equally impressed. “The best part about Kohli is he plays conventional strokes. He was in control of the situation and had the confidence to back himself to win the game for his team. That speaks volumes about the ability of a player. Against Pakistan, his proficiency in soaking in the pressure was a lesson for every aspiring cricketer,” said Walters.
Walters, too, couldn’t stop talking about the two shots against Harris Rauf in the 19th over. “What was special about the first shot was that he was able to clear the MCG, one of the longest boundaries in the world. That tells you how perfect the shot was. The timing, the balance, the execution, everything was perfect and that’s why the ball travelled the distance and landed in the stands,” he said. This stroke is being equated with the Sachin Tendulkar’s six off Shoaib Akhtar over third man in the 2003 World Cup.
With Kohli batting at his best, Walters is backing India to do well in Australia and feels it could be an England India final. Clarke, who was the captain when Kohli scored his first Test hundred in Australia in 2012, was forever confident that Kohli would do well. Even before the tournament had started, Clarke was on-record saying this World Cup could see Kohli dominate the proceedings.
“The format and the conditions are such that opening batsmen and the No. 3 will be decisive for a team. And in Kohli you have the best man for the job. At No. 3 if he plays 70 balls in the innings he will end up scoring 110 runs for the team and that’s why you shouldn’t bother too much about his approach early on,” said Clarke.
“In fact, I am a little surprised with all this talk about approach. There is no one approach in cricket. If you have players like Kohli and Rohit (Sharma), all you need to do is back them to bat for as long as possible. If they do so, more often than not, they will win you the game,” he argued. For Clarke, Kohli seems to be getting close to his best and has a certain calmness about him that is refreshing.
The Australian press, too, couldn’t stop gushing about Kohli. The Sydney papers, which carried very little on the India-Pakistan game the morning after, have all started to focus on Kohli and the greatness of the knock under pressure. With that one innings, Kohli has set the tone for India in the World Cup.
