The first ODI between India and New Zealand was the first men’s international match to be played in Vadodara since December 2010. In the intervening years, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma went from being young players trying to break into the Indian team, to being two of the biggest stars in the side and then legends in the twlight of their careers. It was pretty clear that a majority of the crowd at the BCA Stadium on Sunday primarily came to watch Kohli and Rohit bat and while it didn’t quite come together for the latter, the former put on a show. New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jamieson, who has shared a dressing room with Kohli at RCB, said that it was nice to see some of the younger players in his team experience the noise when Rohit and later Kohli walked out.
“Everyone’s trying to help each other and I’ve been fortunate to come to this country a few times and to experience everything that comes with playing cricket in this country,” Jamieson told the media after India’s four-wicket victory in the first ODI. “It was so cool just to see them experience this for the first time, the crowd and the noise and every boundary and when Virat and Rohit walked out.”
Rohit fell for a 29-ball 26 but Kohli then came out all guns blazing. He smashed 93 in 91 balls, sharing a 118-run stand for the second wicket with captain Shubman Gill in just 107 balls and then a stand of 77 off just 76 balls with Shreyas Iyer, all of which put India on their way to victory.”It’s hard to say from an opposition point of view whether this is the best version of him or not — he’s been pretty good for a long time, right?,” Jamieson said.
“You feel every time you come up against him, you’ve got to be at your absolute best to even compete. He’s on a different level, he plays the game on a different level to most cricketers, (and) he looked pretty good for the most part. We’ll just have to try and come up with some plans to try and contain him, but (then) you don’t contain the greats, they have their way a little bit, so just enjoyed watching him play for sure,” Jamieson added.
