The tenure of India’s star batsman Virat Kohli as the T20I captain came to an end last night, with India winning their last league match against Namibia. India thrashed Namibia on Monday by 9 wickets, chasing down the target of 133 runs to sign off their campaign with three back-to-back wins.
During the match, Virat Kohli grabbed all the limelight after he sent Suryakumar Yadav after the fall of opener Rohit Sharma when the team required 47 runs required off 61 balls. SKY smashed 4 boundaries to score 25 runs from 18 balls to take the team home while remaining unbeaten till the last ball of the game.
Virat, who was expected to bat ahead of SKY remained padded up and helmet on in the dugout and didn’t bat in his last game as a T20I captain.
Later, after the match, Virat Kohli revealed the decision and won everyone’s heart when he revealed the reason for doing so. Virat highlighted that Yadav hadn’t got much game time playing in his first T20 World Cup and sending SKY ahead of him was to give Yadav a chance to create “a nice memory” to take back from the world cup. He said:
“Surya didn’t get much time in the campaign. It’s a T20 World Cup and I thought it might be a nice memory of him to take back. As a youngster, you want to take back some good. So that was the plan,”
Further, Virat Kohli felt that India have “played some really good cricket” after two humiliating defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand. He once again admitted the fact that the players “weren’t brave enough” in the first two games. He said:
“I know we haven’t got the results here but we have played some really good cricket. The guys have really made my work easier. The way we played the last three games, it’s a game of margins – T20 cricket these days. Two overs of attacking cricket at the top is what we were missing in the first two games. As I said, we weren’t brave enough in those games and in the group we were in, it was tough,”
Here, check out the reactions of twitterati on Virat sending SKY to bat at no.3:
Virat Kohli wanted to give game time to SKY so that he can take back some memories from this WT20. You might question his captaincy but as a teammate Virat is as good as they come.
— Manya (@CSKian716) November 8, 2021
This is the Last Match Of Virat Kohli as T20i Captain. He could have come to bat after Rohit’s wicket today. But this man gave chance to SKY.
The Most Selfless Cricketer I have ever seen!@imVkohli ? pic.twitter.com/947Dwm3VIJ
— Nishita Sarma ॐ (@MyLoveVirat18) November 8, 2021
Virat Kohli could have easily statpadded against Afg and Nam, but sent Pant and Sky. Team man
— akshat (@ReignOfVirat) November 8, 2021
Was waiting to see virat kohli bat in his last tenure has t20 captain! But promoted sky in his place. “CAPTAIN SELFLESS ” For a reason
@imVkohli #KingKohli@cricanandha
— Deepesh Kumar (@Deepesh38458556) November 8, 2021
Last match as Captain, 50th match, yet once again sacrificed his No 3 batting for a youngster (SKY) #legend #KingKohli @imVkohli @BCCI
— Khyaathi Lakhani (@kml2395) November 9, 2021
Some people still say like Virat demotivated SKY….but the truth he had sacrificed his place manytimes for the youngsters
Captain— Venkat Virat (@Virat_venkat26) November 8, 2021
Even in his last moments as captain.. He dropped himself and sent sky to bat …He always plays for his team. Captain kohli deserves atleast one icc tournament.. Love you lots @imVkohli
— Krish
Why @imVkohli why 🤧? … Last match as captain in t20is and still sent sky ahead … Ain't fair man!! This endless pain you are giving….at least you should have came in to bat in this match…. 🤧#ViratKohli #Virat #IndiaVsNamibia #WCT20
— Tony Rawat (@T0nyRawat18) November 8, 2021
#ViratKohli didn’t bat in his last match as T20I captain of India bc he wanted SKY to take back a lasting memory. My respect for this man keeps skyrocketing. #T20WorldCup #India pic.twitter.com/8QZzpIh2wp
— Bilaal (@BilaalMarikar) November 9, 2021
Selfless from Virat Kohli, in his final match as T20I captain, there was an opportunity to bat and finish the game but given it to SKY who is playing his first WC.
— HARSHAD 2.0 (@im_Harshad15) November 8, 2021
