Virat Kohli came into his first Vijay Hazare Trophy since 2010 in a rich vein of form in ODI cricket and he has only picked up from where he left off. He scored an imperious a typically classy 131 in the opening match for Delhi against Andhra and then scored 77 in 61 balls on a tricky pitch against Gujarat.
He was denied a second consecutive century in the tournament when he fell to spinner Vishal Jayswal. After the match, Kohli was seen signing autographs and taking selfies with the Gujarat players. While Jayswal was not seen among them on videos that have been circulating on social media, the spinner later shared a photo with Kohli on his Instagram handle and shared a photo of the former India captain’s signature on the ball with which he took the decisive wicket.
Jayswal also shared a clip of him dismissing Kohli with a caption that read: “From watching him dominate world cricket to sharing the same field and taking his wicket is a moment I never imagined would turn into reality. Getting the wicket of Virat Bhai is something I’ll cherish forever. Just grateful for the opportunity, the journey, and everything this beautiful game has given me”.
Kohli was visibly more animated during the match against Gujarat than he was against Andhra. In the first match, Kohli didn’t celebrate his century too much. However, his uber competitiveness came to the fore as the match between Delhi and Gujarat started getting close. Delhi eventually won by seven runs.
The run-out of Gujarat’s No.9 Amit Desai after a series of abysmal and comical fielding errors made Kohli bellow. It resounded at the Centre of Excellence facility. And seven runs later as he pouched Ravi Bishnoi’s catch, a nervy seven-run win was sealed by Delhi to make it two wins out of two.
On a pitch where no team was able to seize control, and batsmen except for Rishabh Pant struggled, Kohli’s 61-ball 77 deserved a separate pedestal for its class. He deservedly took home the Man of the Match award too, which carries prize money of Rs 10,000.