Virat Kohli's 183 vs Pakistan is one of his greatest innings: Gautam Gambhir
Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir believes that Indian skipper Virat Kohli's 183 against Pakistan in 2012 Asia Cup is one of his greatest innings ever. This brilliant knock of his helped India beat Pakistan in a must-win encounter.
Chasing 330, India found themselves reeling at 0/1 after Mohammed Hafeez dismissed Gambhir in the very first over. Virat Kohli would walk in and play one of the most incredible innings of his career to take his team home.
Virat Kohli has played many unbelievable innings: Gautam Gambhir
Virat Kohli has broken many records in his 12-year long career and has scored over 20,000 international runs. Virat Kohli is also third in the list of total number of international centuries with 70, 1 behind the great Australian Ricky Ponting.
Gautam Gambhir believes the century against Pakistan was special because of the circumstances under which Virat Kohli scored that century.
“Virat Kohli has played many unbelievable innings across the three formats, but this is one of his greatest innings from all points of view,” Gambhir said on Best of Asia Cup watch along on Star Sports.
“First of all, we were chasing 330, then India was 0/1, and then scoring 183 out of the 330 runs, that too against Pakistan, and that time, he was not that experienced too. According to me, I think probably this is one of Virat Kohli’s greatest innings, honestly,” Gautam Gambhir further added.
Going into the 2012 Asia Cup, Virat Kohli was fresh off a brilliant 133 against Sri Lanka at Hobart which helped India win the game chasing 331 inside 40 overs. In a high-pressure encounter, centuries from Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed propelled Pakistan to 329.
In reply, India got off to the worst possible start as they lost Gautam Gambhir on the second ball of the chase. But Virat Kohli walked out and added 133 runs for the second wicket with Sachin Tendulkar, who was playing his last ODI for India.
After Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed for 52, Virat Kohli did not let the momentum slip away and continued playing positive cricket. He went on to add 172 runs with Rohit Sharma for the third wicket. Virat Kohli's wicket did not hurt India much as Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni applied the finishing touches to what was a professional chase from India.