'He slowed down a bit': Gautam Gambhir’s big take on Virat Kohli’s World Cup knock against South Africa

After Virat Kohli completed his 48th ODI century, the cricket world was eagerly waiting for the moment when the India batter would equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most hundreds in the 50-over format. Kohli finally achieved the feat during a nervy World Cup game against South Africa on 5 November.

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While the majority of the cricket fraternity was in all praise for the India star, Gautam Gambhir has raised questions about Kohli’s approach during the last few overs of his innings. The former India batter reckons Kohli had slowed down a bit after reaching closer to the milestone. Gambhir, however, admitted the fact that from the team’s perspective, Kohli needed to stay at the crease for a long period.

Read: Kohli has only equalled Tendulkar, but as an ODI batter he is unparalleled

During a recent interaction with Sportskeeda, Gambhir analysed Kohli’s knock against South Africa. According to him, Kohli slowed down after nearing his century as India had already posted a good score on the board. “It was important for Kohli to bat deep. I feel it was just the last 5-6 overs where he slowed down a bit, maybe because he was nearing a century. But I believe there were already enough runs on the board. It could have hurt India if they were batting on a good pitch,” Gambhir explained.

The cricketer-turned-pundit further made a special mention of Shreyas Iyer, who also showcased his A-game against the Proteas. The middle-order batter lit up the show in Kolkata with his big-hitting prowess. Iyer smashed as many as seven fours and two maximums, en route to his 77-run knock.

His assistance certainly had a huge impact on Kohli’s batting. “You got to give credit to Shreyas Iyer for the way he kept taking chances and took the pressure off Virat Kohli. Both batted really well in the middle as the best time to bat was with the new ball. They expertly negotiated Keshav Maharaj and giving him just one wicket when Jadeja picked five was brilliant.” Gambhir went on to add.

Read: Milestones set by Kohli in international cricket

Kohli himself spoke about his approach in the South Africa game during the post-match interview, saying that it was a desirable attempt to take the game deeper. “As the ball got older, the conditions slowed down drastically. The message was clear, keep batting around me. I was happy from that perspective. Once we got more than 315, we knew that we were above par,” the 35-year-old said.