‘The chase master showed his magic’ – VVS Laxman in awe after Virat Kohli’s 77* against England in the third T20I

Team India were outplayed by the visiting England team in all the facets of the game in the third T20I of the five-match T20I series at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium as they lost the game by eight wickets. Despite the loss, Indian skipper Virat Kohli managed to hogg all the limelight for the innings that he produced with the willow.

One of the biggest positives from the third T20I for India was the comeback of vintage Kohli as the captain single-handedly took the team to a respectable total in the first innings. Virat played a sublime knock of 77 runs off 46 deliveries including eight fours and four sixes at a strike-rate of 167.39. 

One of the highlights of the masterclass knock by Virat was the way he paced his innings throughout the game despite losing wickets continuously at one end. In the first 25 balls that he faced, Virat could manage only 24 runs. However, from the 15th over the batting maestro went berserk as in the next 21 deliveries he collected a stunning 53 runs.

With this inning, Kohli climbed to the fifth position in the T20I batsmen rankings by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and became the only batsman in the world to feature in the top five across all the formats. Just like many other veteran cricketers and cricket analysts, India’s batting great VVS Laxman was highly impressed with the Indian skipper.

VVS Laxman hails Virat Kohli

The legendary batsman eulogized Kohli for absorbing the pressure and then building Team India’s innings. Heaping praises on the talismanic batsman, VVS reckoned that once again the chase master’ showed his magic.

“At one point it felt if India can score even 140 or not because so many wickets had fallen. But once again Virat Kohli deserves all the praise. The chase master showed his magic in the last match (Sunday) but today (Tuesday) the way he first absorbed the pressure and then built the innings,” Laxman told Star Sports Network. 

Though Virat produced a classic inning, he was overshadowed by the England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler who played a scintillating knock of 83 runs off 52 deliveries.