Record-breaking Virat Kohli says India lucky to tie Vizag ODI against West Indies

Virat Kohli thrilled the Vizag crowd with a magnificent 157* and broke several records, including breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the fastest to 10,000 runs. His record-breaking knock was matched by Shai Hope’s brilliant century (123*) and a blazing knock from Shimron Hetmyer (94) as the second ODI ended in a tie.

Speaking in the post-match presentation, Kohli said batting first was decided before the game. “In big tournaments like World Cup or Champions Trophy, we might be batting first and we have to embrace everything that comes our way. We put up a challenge in front of us today and luckily we got the draw, we will take it at the end of the day,”Kohli said. 

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The Indian skipper’s knock of 157* broke plenty of records. It was his fourth 150+ score and second as skipper. He went past 1000 runs in a calendar year in ODIs for the second consecutive year and broke Tendulkar’s milestone in record time. Speaking on the achievement, Kohli said he was pleased with his knock.

“Personally, I'm pretty proud of my innings and my milestone. We were looking at 275-280 but then I got going and we got those 30-40 runs extra,”Kohli said. 

Brilliant partnership

West Indies had lost three wickets in their chase of 322 but Hope and Hetmyer put on a dazzling 143-run stand for the fourth wicket. Hetmyer, in particular, continued his great form after smashing a century in Guwahati and was unlucky to miss out on a century. Kohli said the partnership was great to watch. 

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“Credit to the West Indies team as well, they showed great heart. Especially in the second innings, when they got stuck in despite being three down. Beautiful partnership between both those guys but the way two teams played it was a fair result. I have been watching Shai for a while now. He played that brilliant knock against England when they were chasing in the fourth innings. Hetmyer as well, credit to him. Hats-off to their strokeplay,” Kohli said.

Rayudu superb

For the last couple of seasons, India were struggling for a solid No.4 batsman to stabilise the middle order. Ambati Rayudu gave his captain plenty to cheer with a magnificent knock of 73 which laid the platform for India to go past 300. Kohli praised the efforts of the right-hander.

“I have mentioned in a press conference before that he is someone we are looking at as a permanent number four. He reads situations very well. He plays spin really well and plays fast bowling really as well,” Kohli said.