Watch: Virat Kohli meets Haris Rauf ahead of IND vs PAK match
Kohli met the Pakistan pacer ahead of the blockbuster Asia Cup clash at the Pallekele International Stadium.
Crickate
Almost a year later, those two iconic sixes are still as fresh in our minds as if they occurred yesterday. The most magical thing about Virat Kohli's sixes against Haris Rauf was that for a few brief seconds, the packed 90,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, comprising spectators from India and Pakistan, shared the same awe at what he had done, which ultimately led to India's four-wicket victory. Ten months after hitting those sixes, Kohli encountered the Pakistan pacer prior to the Asia Cup match at Pallekele International Stadium.
On October 23, 2022, in Melbourne, Australia, during a group-stage match of the T20 World Cup, Kohli had wrought absolute havoc. Kohli, who later acknowledged it was his best T20I innings, smashed back-to-back sixes off Haris, one of which was struck off his back foot over the bowler's head, leaving the Pakistan pacer stunned.
A year later, when they were scheduled to play each other in a 2023 Asia Cup group-stage match on Saturday in Kandy, Kohli and Haris met during a practice session and shared a laugh before embracing.
Watch the video here...
Haris confessed to the Pakistani news outlet Cricwick a month after the match that he was awestruck by Kohli's skill and that he would have been injured had it been hit by any other batter.
"The manner in which he [Kohli] played in the World Cup exemplifies his class, and we are all familiar with the types of strikes he plays. And the manner in which he struck those sixes, I don't believe any other player could hit a shot like that off my bowling," Haris said. If Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya had struck those sixes, I would have been in agony, but they came off Kohli's bat, and he is in a different league.
Saturday will be Kohli's fourth meeting with Haris in an international match, although the Pakistan speedster had served as India's net bowler during the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar series in Australia. In four encounters, all Twenty20 Internationals, Kohli has scored 42 runs off 32 deliveries without being dismissed.
