Indian captain, Virat Kohli, has revealed that his career-best score of 183 against Pakistan in 2012 Asia Cup proved to be a game-changer for his career.
Reflecting on the match, which was also Sachin Tendulkar’s last ODI, Kohli labeled his innings as special as it changed his career. Talking about the occasion in a live Instagram session with Ravi Ashwin, Kohli said:
I fondly remember that game. It was a Sunday. The whole country watches an India and Pakistan game, so if you perform then suddenly everyone takes notice. It turned out to be a game-changer for my career.
India chased down the target of 330 with three overs to spare as Kohli starred with the bat with a blistering 183 runs.
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Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma also chipped in with half-centuries to neutralize a strong Pakistani bowling attack which included Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz and Aizaz Cheema.
Pakistan had a very challenging bowling attack. They had Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Wahab Riaz, Shahid Afridi. Then Saeed Ajmal was at his peak and Hafeez used to bowl as well.
Talking about Saeed Ajmal’s bowling, he said that he played him like a leg-spinner to score runs against him.
There was a warm-up game in the tournament against Pakistan where I decided that I am going to start playing Saeed Ajmal as a leg-spinner. His doosra was quite difficult to face and his off-spin wasn’t that lethal. So I decided I am going to hit him over covers consistently and it just paid off. As soon as I negated his doosra, then the potency of his threat became lesser. Even during the Asia Cup game, I scored most of my runs against him on the off-side.
Since then, Kohli has become a legendary batsman who averages 59.33 in 239 innings with 43 centuries and 58 fifties in total.
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