The last time an Indo-Pak series took place was back in 2012 when Pakistan had toured India for a two-match T20I leg and a three-match ODI series.
Left-arm pacer Junaid Khan dismissed Virat Kohli in all the three ODIs. Junaid bowled 24 balls to Kohli, allowing the batsman to score just three runs off him. Kohli managed to score just 13 runs in the series, scoring a duck in Chennai, followed by six and seven in Kolkata and Delhi as Pakistan beat India 2-1.
“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 said on the Cricingif show for their YouTube channel.
After a fantastic performance in the ODI series, Junaid went on to cement his place in the Pakistan side across all three formats and was a mainstay in the playing eleven for the next few years.
“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,” Junaid said.
“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.”
Kohli, along with Babar Azam, Steve Smith, Joe Root and Kane Williamson, is one of the best batters in the cricketing world, but for Junaid, the India captain is the best batsman across formats. Kohli is the only batsman to average more than 50 in all three formats of the game, with a staggering 59.3 in ODIs.
“No doubt Kohli is the best batsman in all three formats. If you ask anyone, they’d say that guys like Babar Azam, Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith are the best batsmen of the generation, but the best of the lot is Kohli because he’s performed outstandingly in all three formats,” Junaid added.
