T20 World Cup 2022: “He could have scored at a slightly higher strike rate” - Robin Uthappa on Virat Kohli’s half-century in the 2nd semi-final against England 

Former batter Robin Uthappa reckons that Virat Kohli could have scored at a slightly better rate during his half-century in Team India’s T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final clash against England in Adelaide on Thursday, November 10.

Kohli notched up his fourth half-century of the tournament, scoring 50 off 40 balls with the aid of four fours and one six. However, he was dismissed off the last ball of the 18th over, just when Team India were hoping for him to press the accelerator.

Reflecting on Kohli’s knock, Uthappa admitted that the No. 3 batter had to make up for Suryakumar Yadav’s early dismissal. He, however, added that the former captain could have shown a little more intent. Uthappa told Sportskeeda:

“When Suryakumar gets out, you have to steady the innings. If India would have lost one more wicket trying to play aggressive cricket, forget 140, you might not have even reached 120.

"It was important for Kohli to play that kind of knock, but yes he could have scored at a slightly higher strike rate, maybe taking twos a lot more. He was anyways playing low-risk cricket. Hardik (Pandya) was also doing that. He took the game deep and looked to score in the last three overs. He played exceptionally well.”

Following Kohli’s dismissal, Pandya went berserk in the last couple of overs and ended up scoring 63 off 33 balls. His exploits were in vain, though, as England chased down a target of 169 with all 10 wickets in hand.

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“I will give a lot of credit to Suryakumar and Virat Kohli” - Kiran More

Sharing his thoughts on Team India’s T20 World Cup 2022 campaign, former chief selector Kiran More opined that the Men in Blue did not take the initiative in the powerplay. He praised Suryakumar and Kohli for carrying India’s batting right through the tournament. More said:

“In the powerplays in T20Is, even if you lose two wickets, you should be able to score at least 50 runs. You need to bring that momentum to put the opposition under pressure. If you get stuck on 35/2…

“I will give a lot of credit to Suryakumar and Virat Kohli. They brought momentum into the innings. Surya scored 60 in 25 balls in one of the games. He was the one who brought that momentum. The others did not do it.”

Suryakumar had a terrific T20 World Cup 2022 campaign, smashing 239 runs at an average of 59.75 and a strike rate of 189.68. However, he was dismissed for 14 in the semi-final, which hurt India in a massive way, considering how heavily they were depending on him to perform.