Haris Rauf recounts Virat Kohli brilliance at MCG: 'No other batter could've hit those sixes off me'

Rawalpindi, December 1: Virat Kohli had played a match-winning innings of unbeaten 82 off 52 balls against Pakistan in the recent ICC T20 World Cup 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The feature of his classy innings was the two successive sixes that Kohli hit off Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf in the 19th over of India’s chase of 160.

A shot over the head of Rauf’s head reduced the equation to 22 off 7 balls and a flicked six over fine leg further diminished the margin to 16 runs off the last six balls.

Rauf was not really much surprised Kohli playing those incredible shots against him, but rather cheekily added that he would have been crestfallen had Dinesh Karthik or Hardik Pandya played those shots.

“The way he played in the World Cup, that is his class, we all know the types of shots he plays.

“And the way he hit those sixes, I don’t think any other player can hit a shot like that off my bowling. If Dinesh Karthik or Hardik Pandya would’ve hit those sixes, I would’ve been hurting but those came off Kohli’s bat and he is a different class altogether,” Rauf told Cricwick.

“The idea was to bowl a slower one on that back-of-a-length zone since the boundary was larger on the square side. I had no idea that he can hit me down the ground off that length.

So when he hit that shot off me, that’s his class. My plan and execution was fine but that shot was all class,” he added.

Rauf also said Pakistan’s campaign at the T20 World Cup was a tough after losing the first two matches but showed spunk to come back and reach the final.

“It wasn’t an ideal start…losing the first two matches, it was upsetting. The dressing room’s morale was extremely down but the next day we had a meeting, we discussed our mistakes, devised a new plan, and had faith that we will play in the World Cup final.

We got out of the dressing room with that belief and eventually, played in the World Cup final,” said Rauf.