India vs Hong Kong Asia Cup 2022: Virat Kohli needs to MIX back-foot and front-foot aggression, suggests Sanjay Manjrekar

Former India captain Virat Kohli played his landmark 100th T20 international match in the all-important India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2022 match on Sunday (August 28). Kohli was the top-scorer in the Indian innings, along with Ravindra Jadeja, scoring 35 off 34 balls as Rohit Sharma’s side defeated Babar Azam-led Pakistan by five wickets.

Kohli, who was dropped off the second ball of his innings off debutant pacer Naseem Shah, seemed to be getting into groove before being dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz. Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar observed that Kohli appears to have made some technical changes to his game during the one month-break before the Asia Cup.

“A couple of things that I saw which I liked and something that I have not seen him do much before. If you remember he played three pulls in that innings. There was one hook that went for six, but there were a couple of pull shots that he played and those are the things that I look for you know as an analyst. This is what excites me whether he's trying to do anything different,” Manjrekar was quoted as saying on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports over the top’.

Virat Kohli training hard in the Gym. pic.twitter.com/8YMMu7Hvbr

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 30, 2022

“Just getting a little bit technical, before the ball was delivered. On two occasions, he actually had a trigger movement where he went back in the crease, which meant that I think finally somebody's got to him where he is now exploring the back foot play a little more. I saw that happen in England, but still mostly onto the front foot. There was a catch dropped again on the front foot reaching for the ball. So, if he starts mixing back foot aggression, I'm not saying back foot defence. Back foot aggression along with front foot aggression, life might just get better, and those signs were seen in that innings against Pakistan,” Manjrekar said about Kohli.

‘Hardik Pandya calmness is just unreal’

The former Mumbai batter went on to praise all-rounder Hardik Pandya for his ‘calmness’ under pressure during the chase.

“Just his (Hardik Pandya) calmness. I mean everything about him is currently unreal. His bowling returns are unreal, which is fine, which is something that you get with others as well. But his ability to keep calm and get runs under pressure. That last over, you know last night was a tricky one because Hardik was in there and played the faster bowlers mostly and he was hitting the path.

“There was a rhythm of hitting against the quicker bowlers and suddenly the situation was such that Pakistan had to bring in the left-arm spinner in and Jadeja getting out to the first ball and then he had four balls to get those runs. I mean, the pressure is immense but the kind of shots also that he plays to get those winning runs under pressure is just outstanding,” Manjrekar said about Pandya.

“I’m sure from inside there is a bit of nerves, but he has this confidence currently which he said last night as well, is that he believes that the bowler would be under more pressure. So, he’s just in a zone where you think everything that he is doing is just unreal. Absolutely brilliant,” he added.

Team India’s next match in Asia Cup 2022 will be against Hong Kong in Dubai on Wednesday (August 31).