The incredible innings of Virat Kohli - World T20, 2016

It was incredible.

Did you notice he was getting restless when Yuvraj had that injury? The doubles were becoming singles and quick singles were drying up. The boundaries were not coming and the match was slipping away. Virat had other ideas. He was patient and adapted his game to Yuvi's situation and once Yuvi perished, MSD and Kohli ran amazingly well in between the wickets. Yes, that was some power hitting by Kohli! But for me, the crucial doubles were a key factor for India.

The 16th over! Hazelwood is bowling. India need 59 off 30. The match was slipping away. Not getting the boundaries, Kohli ran 4 doubles in the over! 4 doubles against an incredible fielding unit. Putting pressure on them all the time. 0,2,2,4,2,2! A 12 run over in the circumstances, there is a shift in the momentum.

The 18th over! India need 39 off 18. What power hitting! A four on the deep square leg boundary, followed by a blockhole going to the boundary and then a lofted drive over long off. That must have taken a lot out of him. He managed to take 2 more doubles in the over. Faulkner goes for 4,4,6,2,1,2. A 19 run over. That made things easier.

The 19th over! India Need 20 off 12 balls now. Another four through the deep point region, carefully carving out where there were no fielders, then on the leg and then two boundaries through the covers. Coulter-Nile goes for 0,4,4,4,0,4. India need 4 off the last over. That's the game.

Now, his innings had a lot of doubles and that too during the last few balls of his innings. This is what he had been practicing for during the SriLankan series that he opted out of.

Training at situations where he would be 0 and managing to give his best. He used the techno shape and a high altitude mask for training to excel in situations exactly like this.

This man prepared for a day like this, weeks and months in advance.

During the press conference, Sanjay Manjrekar asked Kohli about his diets and his fitness to which Kohli answered "You do gun for that and all those fitness regimes paid off tonight. When I'm tired, I should be able to run as fast as when I'm on zero."

It was the doubles that shifted the momentum towards India and hence Kohli could go all out hitting those glorious boundaries! All in all, it was an incredible innings.

Respect for the hard work this man puts in!