Having been a rival as well as a teammate to Virat Kohli, New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson says he can only marvel at the Indian superstar’s craft as he operates at a “different level”, one where great batters have their way even if bowlers try to contain them.
Kohli looked set for a record-extending 54th ODI century on Sunday in the opening ODI against the Kiwis that India won by four wickets. However, Kohli fell seven runs short of his milestone when the imposing Kiwi bowler had him caught at mid-off for 93.
Jamieson, who has shared the dressing room with Kohli at Royal Challengers Bengaluru Bengaluru in the IPL, said it’s tough to determine if the Indian batter has been at his best right now. “It’s hard to say from an opposition point of view whether this is the best version of him or not — he’s been pretty good for a long time, right?,” Jamieson said.
“You feel every time you come up against him, you’ve got to be at your absolute best to even compete. He’s on a different level, he plays the game on a different level to most cricketers, [and] he looked pretty good for the most part.
“We’ll just have to try and come up with some plans to try and contain him, but [then] you don’t contain the greats, they have their way a little bit, so just enjoyed watching him play for sure,” Jamieson added.
Jamieson was by far the best bowler from both the teams returning figures of 4-41. “He [Kohli] controlled the tempo through the middle and set the innings up for his team,” Jamieson admitted.
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No. of Player-of-the-Match awards in ODIs for Virat Kohli, behind only Sanath Jayasuriya (48) and Sachin Tendulkar (62)
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