Australia spinner Ashton Agar took centre stage and analysed Virat Kohli’s brilliant form in ODI cricket, he talked about several factors which make Kohli great.
Ace India batter Virat Kohli has caught all the limelight through his excellent performances in ODI cricket. After an excellent century against Pakistan in the group stage of the Champions Trophy 2025, Kohli followed it up with another excellent knock against Australia in the 2nd semi-final of the tournament.
Kohli’s innings was crucial for India as they chased down a target of 265 runs and booked their berth in the summit clash of the Champions Trophy. Seeing his recent performance, Australia spinner Ashton Agar took centre stage and analysed Kohli’s form.
Agar opined that Kohli does not let the pressure build, as when he is not taking boundaries, he is constantly taking singles and rotating the strike. “That’s the frustrating part about bowling to him. It’s not just the damage he does with boundaries—it’s the fact that you can’t build pressure on him. You never really feel like you’re on top of him unless the ball is really spinning. And you don’t get a lot of pitches like that in one-day cricket,” Agar told ESPNcricinfo.
“He has this fantastic ability to hit your best ball—the top of middle stump, slightly spinning away—by holding the bat’s face slightly longer than others do. He opens it at the last second and hits it in the cover-point gap. He’s probably the best in the world at doing that, and it’s very difficult to build pressure on him,” the 31-year-old went on to add.
It is interesting to note that after Australia posted a total of 264 runs on the board in the first innings, it was the knock of Virat Kohli that propelled India to a win. The Men in Blue got off to a shaky start to the run chase as they lost Shubman Gill quite early. However, Kohli came out to bat and scored 84 runs in 98 deliveries, helping India win the game by four wickets.
