Indian skipper Virat Kohli was back to his best in the second T20I against England after a string of low scores in Test matches and the first match of the ongoing series. And, 'King Kohli' was in his beast mode in the third game as his innings helped India to get to a respectable total, however, that wasn't enough for his side to secure a win as England won the game by eight wickets.
Kohli walked in at No 4 at 20/2 as India again had a poor start to their innings batting first as they lost both their openers and the left-hander Ishan Kishan inside the powerplay itself. Kohli, however, kept milking singles, kept rotating the strike with an odd boundary here or there. He and Rishabh Pant put a lid on the wickets column for a little while, but a horrible mix-up between the two brought down the fall of the latter's wicket.
Shreyas Iyer too after hitting a boundary didn't last for long and it was all on Kohli to do now. Kohli had played a scratchy innings until that point as he was on 28 off 29 balls and was struggling to time the ball. However, a four and a six of Jofra Archer in the 16th over helped Kohli to just let loose and the shackles broke down.
He became an unstoppable beast after that over as he ripped into England's star bowler on the night Mark Wood as he hit two sixes and a four. The best part of every Kohli innings, the acceleration and sudden shift of the gears was on full display as he exhibited his range of shots.
It helped him that Hardik Pandya from the other end was also hitting as the duo's 70-run partnership from just 33 balls put respectability to the total as India set a 157-run target for the visitors. But it wasn't enough as owing to Jos Buttler's unbeaten 83-run innings off just 52 balls was enough for England to chase the total down in 18.2 overs.
But, fans and the experts didn't miss out on the brilliance of Kohli as #GOAT (Greatest of all time) started trending on Twitter as soon as India's innings came to an end. Most of the users heaped praise on some of the extraordinary shot-making of his and ability to accelerate after getting set.
Here are some of the reactions:
