“Oh my word, what a shot that is! A short-arm jab for six. Unbelievable.”
When a player like Virat Kohli goes on to have a career in cricket with as many glittering knocks as he has played, it is difficult to remember exactly every good shot he has played. Simply because there are far too many.
But, even years after he has stopped playing the game, there is one shot from Kohli’s career that will remain unforgettable.
It was the first One-Day International of the series at home against England in January 2017. In a tense run-chase that was made progressively less tense just by the mere presence of Kohli (and helped by a brilliant Kedar Jadhav knock). Chris Woakes ran in in the 34th over, and bowled a cutter that was short of length. There was no room for Kohli to free his arms, but who needs that when you can just use a straight-bat jab to send the ball soaring over cow corner.
“We have become a bit immune to the audacious but even by that standard, this shot from Kohli took your breath away; in its conception, in the belief that it could be played, in the confidence with which it eventually was and in the nonchalance that accompanied it,” commentator Harsha Bhogle wrote for Cricbuzz.
Words are hard to describe that shot, so watch it (and the highlights of the match) for yourself below: