Fab three failure and perfectly imperfect Kohli
It's the second ball of his innings. Kohli's instincts draw him into a drive. Except the ball isn't quite there and it hits the seam and nips away. By the time Kohli has played the ball, he knows he's in trouble, but a diving Fakhar Zaman grasses the chance at slip to the collective despair of the western block of the stadium, which is dominated by Pakistan fans in green.
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Now he's up against Shahnawaz Dahani, the reason why Pakistan are defending 147 rather than 135. Kohli plays out three dots and then mistimes a lofted hit that plonks into the outfield after beating mid-off. Dahani is quick and zippy, and Kohli hasn't managed to get him away. Whether he feels it or not, you feel the pressure.
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At the end of the powerplay, he's batting on 29 off 24. Then the spinners come on and the fields spread. Against Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, he scores 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1. In that time, India lose Rohit.
Then Kohli steps out, and chips Nawaz straight to long-off. Just like that, his stay is over. A perfectly imperfect end to a perfectly imperfect innings
But with all his imperfections, Kohli was the Joint highest scorer with a scoring rate of 102. 4. The other fab two, one opener did not open his account and the other scored 18 at the pace of 66.6, scoring, only one boundary in the power play and getting out in the same over. To me they were all looking rusty and they must come to party, before World Cup. Failure of openers lead to pressure on middle order