Sachin Tendulkar Lauds Virat Kohli's Captaincy After Win Over Afghanistan
Published - 23 Jun 2019, 07:50 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:00 AM
Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar lavished praise on Virat Kohli’s captaincy after India’s thrilling win over Afghanistan on Saturday. Kohli’s captaincy was all over the news for all the wrong reasons not very long ago when India lost the ODI and T20I series to Australia at home. Royal Challengers Bangalore’s poor display in the Indian Premier League did not help his cause either.
However, Kohli has put all those criticism to bed with a brilliant show in the ongoing World Cup. His captaincy against Afghanistan is being widely hailed. India were in all sorts of trouble after being restricted to a modest 224 for 8. Virat Kohli scored a fine fifty on a tough pitch but the other batsmen failed to get going. Kedar Jadhav too scored a fifty but he did not look at ease at all.
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In reply, Afghanistan were comfortably placed at 106 for 2. Kohli, however, did not let them get off the hook at all. He shuffled his bowlers brilliantly and choked the Afghanistan batsmen. Afghanistan lost wickets at regular intervals after taking the early honours before Mohammed Shami finished the game with a hat-trick in the final over.
“I thought Virat’s captaincy was good, the best part was at no stage he looked panicked or confused. When there were dot balls being bowled he also knew Afghanistan was sinking slowly but surely,” Sachin Tendulkar told India Today.
“This match reminded me of the first game we played in 2003 vs Holland. We hadn’t scored a big total and eventually the bowlers backed by good fielding we did the job. 225 was made to feel like 245 by the Indians today. The beauty about our team is there are no easy singles available in the circle. Good luck to the batsmen if they want to take the risk,” added Sachin Tendulkar.
India, meanwhile, moved to the third spot in the points table. The Men in Blue now have 9 points from five matches. India are still one of the only two unbeaten teams in this tournament. Virat Kohli & Co. will next take on West Indies.
