During the fourth T20I of the ongoing five-match series, India captain Virat Kohli outdid New Zealand opening batsman Colin Munro with a ‘magical’ run-out.
It all happened on the fourth delivery of the 12th over when Munro played a delivery from Shivam Dube towards sweeper cover. In what would easily have been a couple of runs under normal circumstances, it wasn’t to be as Kohli’s gut got the better of Munro’s torpid running between the wickets.
Shardul Thakur, who was fielding at the boundary, picked the ball and threw it towards the striker’s end. With Kohli standing at the cover, he collected the ball midway and took a shy at the stumps. The Indian talisman hit the stumps directly, sending the batsman back to the pavilion.
Munro’s wicket was probably one of the turning points in the game.
The southpaw was looking in the prime form before a moment of brilliance by Kohli paved the way for his run-out. And, after his side’s another defeat in the series, Munro admitted that he could have run faster.
“We’re all sitting in the sheds now and talking about it and hurting that we have let two games like that slip. And, I put my hand up too. We talk about running quickly between the wickets, and then I was dawdling with that second one, and Kohli picks up and does some magical work, and that’s it.
Munro, who was batting very well at 64 off 47 deliveries, added that when he saw Thakur throwing the ball, he just thought that the ball was going over the stumps and that he’d be in ‘non-danger’. However, the moment Munro saw that Kohli, who was standing at short-cover, had picked up the ball, the Kiwi opener knew he was in danger.
“I just saw Shardul throw towards the wicketkeeper’s end or the bowler’s end, whichever one it was, and I saw it going over, and I thought oh well it’s going to the non-danger end for me, and when I saw Kohli catch the ball and spin around, then I thought crap I’m in a bit of trouble here. And then he hit like he usually does,” he added.
