Virat Kohli seemed like an ordinary batsman when I bowled to him, claims Junaid Khan

SportsCafe Desk
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Pakistan pacer Junaid Khan, who dismissed the now-Indian skipper thrice in three matches in a bilateral series in 2012, has claimed that he felt Virat Kohli was ‘just a normal batsman’. Junaid had an outstanding tour of India in 2012, where his 8 wickets helped Pakistan to a famous series win.

A prodigy who could both swing the ball into right-handers and take it away from them at will, left-armer Junaid Khan made his ODI debut for Pakistan in 2011 at just the age of 21, but it didn’t take long for the youngster to make a mark in the sport. Just 13 matches into his ODI career, Junaid rocked arch-rivals India with some devastating bowling in the Men in Green’s tour of India in 2012 and finished with 8 wickets to his name in the three-match series, at an average of 12.37, to bowl the visitors to a famous 2-1 series win. 

An interesting sub-plot in the series, however, was a then 23-year-old Junaid’s battle with a young Virat Kohli and remarkably, the left-armer ended up dismissing the Delhite in all three games in the series - with ease. Recalling bowling to the now-Indian skipper Kohli, Junaid said that he did not sense Kohli to be a special batsman when he bowled to the right-hander and revealed that he was always confident that he could get the better of the Delhite. 

“The first ball I bowled to him was a wide but the next ball when I beat him, I thought ‘well, he’s just a normal batsman’. Virat jokingly told me ahead of the series that these are Indian pitches and that balls won’t move much here. I said ‘we’ll see, because I have plenty of momentum with me as well,” Junaid told Cricingif, reported Times Now.  

Junaid, who is no longer a regular in Pakistan’s international side, revealed that heading into the India series in 2012, he knew he had to pick wickets to establish himself as an undroppable entity in the side. And pick wickets and establish his name he did, as the left-armer finished the series as the second highest wicket-taker for Pakistan behind Saeed Ajmal.

“Before that tour, I was playing domestic cricket in Faisalabad. I had bowled around 35-40 overs in each match so I had developed momentum heading into the series. I was making a comeback in the ODIs and when we were heading to India, I knew in my mind that this is my only chance to stage a strong comeback into the team. Secondly, I knew if I would perform well in India, I would need to take wickets.”

Junaid’s last international appearance for Pakistan came in the England ODI series prior to the 2019 World Cup, after which he was controversially left out of the World Cup squad. 

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