'That was Virat Kohli's class' - Haris Rauf on being hit for sixes during ICC T20 World Cup 2022

Pacer Haris Rauf believes that no player in world cricket, barring the peerless former Indian skipper and top-order batter Virat Kohli, could have hit him for those two sixes in that thrilling India victory against Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 match in October. Speaking for the first time to a Pakistani website about those two hits, Rauf said had all-rounder Hardik Pandya or wicketkeeper-finisher Dinesh Karthik hit him like that, he would have felt "hurt". Kohli's unbeaten 83 off 52 balls, considered one of the most remarkable Twenty20 (T20) innings, saw India beat arch-rival Pakistan by four wickets.

Needing 28 off the last eight balls, Kohli first lofted Rauf down the ground with a back-foot punch for the ages and then flicked him behind square to close the game before the last over. "That was his class and the kind of shots that he plays, and the two sixes that he hit, I don't think any other player could hit those kinds of shots. Had Dinesh Karthik or Hardik Pandya hit me like that, I would have been hurt, but that was Kohli, and that's a different class," Rauf told the Cricwick website in an interview.

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The first six hits down the ground are something that Rauf can't comprehend even after a month. "I had no idea that he [Kohli] could hit me down the ground off that length. So, when he hit that shot off me, that's his class. My plan and execution were fine, but that shot was all class," he reckoned.

Rauf planned to give left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz at least a 20-run cushion for the last over, but Kohli's brilliance upset his plans. "Look, India required 31 off the last 12 balls. I had given away only three runs off four deliveries. I knew Nawaz was bowling the last over, he is a spinner, and I had tried to leave at least four big boundaries for him and leave at least more than 20 runs," he said.

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"And, since 28 were required off the last eight balls, I bowled three slower ones, and he was deceived. I had only bowled one quick ball out of four. So, the idea was to bowl a slower one on that back-of-a-length zone since the dimensions of the square boundary were bigger," added Rauf.

Rauf said he had shared a good rapport with Kohli, having bowled to him at the India nets during the 2018-19 series when the last Test was held at the SCG. "I was playing Grade 1 club cricket in Sydney and bowled to the Indian team. Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Ravi Shastri have always met me with a lot of warmth. Ravi Shastri, in fact, during World Cup, told me that he was so happy to see my success and transition. Kohli has also been very appreciative. He told me that you bowled at our nets, and now it is good to see you do well internationally," he concluded.

(With inputs from PTI)