There are two kinds of sporting geniuses: ones that make you stand up in admiration of their efficiency and the others that make you fall in love with the art of it all. Virat Kohli is capable of both and in Bengaluru on Friday, he pulled out the big guns with a picture perfect cover drive.
India were left staring at a first innings deficit of 356 runs on Day 3 in Bengaluru after the Kiwis piled on 402 runs through the first sesison and a half. The hosts responded with a resounding first innings partnership of 72 but things quickly unraveled when both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma fell in quick succession after Tea. The burden for the rebuild thus fell on the experienced shoulders of Virat Kohli and even though the veteran took 15 balls to get of off strike, he soon came into his own to produce some stunning shots fitting of his enormous talent.
The floodgates opened with a sharp cut off the stumps in the 22nd over and several boundaries followed thereafter but the highlight amidst it all came against Will O’Rourke in the 25th over. The tall quick pushed a delivery wide of the stumps on a good length and Kohli was quick to pounce on it with the straightest of bats carressing the red cherry through the gap and into the fence. The Indian batter, a fan favourite at the Chinnaswamy for his endeavours with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, ensured he held his pose long enough for the photographers to eat their hearts out.
Twitterati wasn’t shy either in joining the feast.Kohli Cover Drive!
— deca coorn (@DCoorn74987) October 18, 2024
What a shot!
™️ Virat Kohli ☺️
Live ▶️ https://t.co/8qhNBrs1td#TeamIndia | #INDvNZ | @imVkohli | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/fY8tvMhYnv— BCCI (@BCCI) October 18, 2024
Signature Cover drive from the goat 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tLYMLY5Eab
— Mxf (@MRF_Kohli_18) October 18, 2024
Yeah!
Doctors recommend Virat Kohli cover drive to come out of depression.
You can play this in a loop for the next 100 years and still you won’t be bored.pic.twitter.com/AsinddrAQt— Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) October 18, 2024
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LOL! Good one!
Agreed!
“Nobody plays the extra cover drive better than Virat Kohli” . Truer words were never spoken pic.twitter.com/EOOzFBXjnT
— Abhinav (@TotalKohli) October 18, 2024
This is Virat Kohli’s Cover Drive.
– The Best in the World. 🐐 pic.twitter.com/YlwwG5VKHh— Tanuj Singh (@ImTanujSingh) October 18, 2024
What a sight to watch!
True that!
Virat Kohli is one of the best Asian batters to play cover drive in modern day cricket. pic.twitter.com/7S7L4aawtR
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) October 18, 2024
THE KING KOHLI COVER DRIVE. 🥶🐐 pic.twitter.com/FmHdfkaWXy
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 18, 2024