World Cup 2019: Misbah-ul-Haq names Virat Kohli as the key for Indian team in tournament

Virat Kohli is the biggest batting star in an already star-studded Indian batting lineup and being the captain, his responsibilities in the ongoing ICC World Cup will be more as the team prepares for their opening match against South Africa on June 5. Team India had lost one of their warm-up games to New Zealand and defeated Bangladesh in the second one.

Kohli has been in amazing form in ODI cricket in the last few years and has scored the most no. of centuries in the format-19 since the last World Cup in 2015. He has been amazingly consistent in scoring runs whether batting first and while batting second, he averages almost a hundred in successful chases for the Indian team.

He has some amazing help from Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and ever-dependent MS Dhoni in the batting department, but one former international captain is of opinion that Kohli is the key for India’s success in this tournament.

Misbah says Virat will be the main man for India in pressure situations

Former Pakistani captain Misbah-Ul-Haq termed the current Indian skipper as the key for the team if they wish to have a successful outing in the ongoing tournament. The Indian team is yet to open their account in the tournament and have the advantage of looking at the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents, as many of them will have played at least one match by the time Men in Blue take the field.

“Virat Kohli will be the key for India. No doubt they have MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and have a very good bowling lineup. But I still think Virat will be the key in pressure situations,” Misbah-ul-Haq was quoted as saying by India Today in the Salaam Cricket conclave 2019.

India will be facing Pakistan on June 16 in Manchester and Misbah also felt that anything can happen in India-Pakistan clashes in the World Cup. He even felt that the Men in Blue have the upper hand in the clash. He felt that though Pakistan is a dangerous team and has been in a very good form whenever they have faced India in World Cups, they have been beaten and this time too there is a possibility of something similar happening.