Kevin Pietersen opens up on craze for Virat Kohli at Nagpur Stadium despite missing 1st ODI

There was a lot of anticipation for ace Indian batter, Virat Kohli, to grace the 50-over format after several months in the first ODI between India and England at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. However, to everyone's surprise, skipper, Rohit Sharma, announced Kohli's non-participation in today's game due to an injury sustained by Kohli yesterday night. 

During the mid-innings break, former English batter, Kevin Pietersen, had Abhinav Mukund and Parthiv Patel for company as part of the discussion panel for the broadcasters. It was then when Pietersen, Kohli's former teammate at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, commented on the latter's legacy in the game. He also highlighted a vast majority of Indian supporters at the VCA donning the Indian Blues with Kohli's name behind him in addition to Kohli's name being chanted in the crowd on many instances prior and during the game. 

"The bigger the game, the bigger the player. He is as big as it gets. So, there'll be a lot of people here, I know there are a lot of school children sitting up there in the top stands and there's a lot of "Virat Kohli" signs. A lot of people wearing Virat's shirts. You drive to the ground, it's just Virat Virat Virat all around," shared Pietersen after England's batting.

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India gain comfortable win

After limiting England to 248, England asserted themselves early on by dismissing the opening batters within the first six overs. However, a 94-run partnership between Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer guided the hosts to a comfortable position. In the end, India won the game by four wickets and 68 balls to spare. The next match will be hosted at Cuttack's Barabati Stadium, and India will be hopeful of Kohli's return to fitness for the upcoming clash.