IND vs PAK 2022: "Had Kohli not been there, Team India would have struggled to reach even 150" - Danish Kaneria on Virat Kohli's fantastic knock against Pakistan
Former leg-spinner Danish Kaneria believes Virat Kohli's 60-run knock was crucial for Team India to reach a respectable total against Pakistan. The two teams clashed in the Super 4s stage of the Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday, September 4.
Despite Kohli scoring his second half-century in as many matches, there has been plenty of noise regarding his strike rate. The top-order batter played 44 balls during his knock against Pakistan, striking at 136.36.
However, Kaneria claimed that the former Indian captain played the way the team needed while stating that other middle-order batters like Rishabh Pant failed to perform. Pant was sent to counter spinners Muhammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan but was dismissed for just 14 off 12 balls.
Speaking to India News Sports, Kaneria also spoke about the things Team India could have done differently with the ball to create more chances. He said:
"Pant has continued to underperform in T20Is but India too don't have another left-handed option when Pakistan have the likes of Nawaz, Khushdil [Shah] and Fakhar [Zaman]."
The former Pakistan cricketer added:
"Rohit and Rahul gave a fantastic start, but had Kohli not been there, Team India would have struggled to reach even 150. They could have used [Deepak] Hooda's off-spin when Nawaz was taking on the pacers to see if something different would have happened."
Team India should have scored more runs after the start they got: Saba Karim
Former Indian selector and wicketkeeper Saba Karim also felt that India should have put more runs on the board after the blazing start provided by KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma.
Rahul scored 28 off 20 balls while Sharma scored the same number of runs from just 16 balls. The duo put together an opening stand of 54 from just 5.1 overs.
Rohit, Rahul, runs.
This RRR was 🔥
Karim feels Team India need to go back to the drawing board and reassess their template of aggressive cricket due to the lack of batting depth in their ranks. He stated:
"India should have definitely scored more runs, especially after the start that they had got. But they kept on losing wickets in the middle-overs and you had Deepak Hooda already batting when there were five overs left."
Karim added:
"Thankfully you had Kohli at the crease or else it would have been an even bigger problem. India will have realised that they need to keep wickets in hand if they want to set a huge score."
India will hope to return to winning ways when they face Sri Lanka on September 6.
Find the Asia Cup schedule, timings, venues and match details on Sportskeeda.
Will the loss against Pakistan force India to change their approach? Let us know in the comments.