Ultimately, Haris Rauf praised Kohli, saying, “I would have felt hurt if Hardik Pandya or DK hit me for sixes, but Kohli…”

Haris Rauf is of the opinion that no other player in the game of cricket, aside from the unrivalled Virat Kohli, is capable of hitting him for two sixes like Virat did during India’s exciting victory over Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup match back in October.

Haris Rauf added that if Hardik Pandya or Dinesh Karthik had struck him in such manner, he would have felt “hurt.” He made this statement while speaking about the two hits for the first time to a Pakistani website.

India triumphed against their bitter rivals Pakistan by a score of four wickets thanks to Kohli’s unbeaten 83 off 52 balls. This innings is widely regarded as one of the best Twenty20 performances ever.

First, Kohli lofted Rauf down the ground with a back-foot punch for the ages, and then he flicked him behind square to virtually end the game before the last over was bowled. This was done while they needed 28 runs off the last eight balls.

“That was his class, and the kind of shots that he plays, and the two sixes that he hit, I don’t think any other guy could hit those kind of shots. I don’t think any other player could hit those kind of shots.”

“Had Dinesh Karthik or Hardik Pandya hit me like that, I would have been harmed, but that was Kohli, and that’s different class,” Rauf said in an interview for the ‘Cricwick’ website about the incident.

Even a month hasn’t been enough time for Rauf to wrap his head around the fact that the first six hit down on the ground.

“I had no clue that he (Kohli) could hit me from that length down on the ground. Therefore, the fact that he was able to hit that shot off of me demonstrates his class. My strategy and how it was carried out worked out well, but that shot had real class.

Haris Rauf intended to provide a cushion of at least 20 runs for the left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz going into the last over, but Kohli’s brilliant performance derailed his intentions.

“As you can see, India needed 31 runs off the next 12 balls. After four deliveries, I had only allowed three runs to be scored against me. Rauf explained, “I knew Nawaz was going to bowl the last over, and since he is a spinner, I tried to leave at least four big boundaries for him and leave at least more than 20 runs.”

“And because we needed 28 runs off the final eight balls, I bowled three slower ones, and he got fooled by them,” she said. Only one of the four rapid balls I had bowled was successful.

Since the dimensions of the square border were greater, the plan was to bowl a slower ball in that back-of-a-length zone.

Rauf stated that he has a strong rapport with Kohli, having bowled to him at the India nets during the 2018-19 series when the last Test was played at the SCG. Rauf also stated that he believes Kohli is one of the best players in the world.

“At the time, I was competing in the Grade 1 club competition in Sydney, and the Indian team was my opponent. They have always greeted me with a great deal of kindness, especially Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Ravi Shastri. During the World Cup, Ravi Shastri expressed to me how glad he was to see me succeeding and making the change, and he said this to me.

“Kohli, too, has shown a great deal of gratitude. He said to me that you bowled at our nets, and it is encouraging to see that you have been successful on the international level.