You Don’t Contain Greats Like Kohli, They Have It Their Way: Jamieson

Vadodara: New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson, who is Virat Kohli’s rival and team-mate, says he can only marvel at the Indian superstar’s skill as he operates at a “different level” where great batsmen have their way even as the bowlers try to contain them.

Kohli looked set for a record-extending 54th ODI century on Sunday in the opening ODI against the Kiwis, which India won by four wickets. But Kohli fell seven runs short of the milestone when the Kiwi bowler caught him midway through the 93 overs.

Jamieson, who shared the dressing room with Kohli at Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL, said it is difficult to determine whether the Indian player is at his best at the moment.

Speaking to the media after Sunday’s defeat, Jamieson said: “From the opposition’s point of view it’s hard to say whether this is the best version of him; he’s been quite good for a long time, hasn’t he?” he said.

“Every time you face him you feel like you have to do your best to even compete. He’s on a different level, he plays the game at a different level than most cricketers (and) he’s looked pretty good for the most part.”

“We’ll have to try and come up with some plans to contain him, but (then) you can’t contain the greats, they’re a bit of their own style, so I definitely enjoyed watching him play,” added Jamieson.

Jamieson was by far the best bowler in both teams, taking figures of 4/41, but could not prevent his side’s defeat even as Kohli caused a mini-collapse by dismissing Ravindra Jadeja (4) and Shreyas Iyer in quick succession.

“He (Kohli) controlled the tempo in the middle over and prepared the innings for his team,” admitted Jamieson.

Jamieson, who is on the cusp of earning a big IPL paycheck after spending time on the sidelines with back-related issues, said he looks back on his career with more gratitude than ever.

“Just like every player’s journey has its ups and downs and its own experiences, I was lucky to be able to kind of step up and make some impact and spend some time here with the IPL early on,” he said.

“(It was) definitely an eye-opening experience and something that I probably wasn’t quite ready for at that stage of my life, and (I too) went on a journey with the background issues over the last couple of years.

“My perspective has changed a bit, I look at being on tour and playing cricket and just being in the park with a lot more gratitude these days than I probably did (before),” he added.

The all-rounder gave a long list of fast bowlers who inspired his growth.

“You always look at the greats, don’t you, whoever is at the top of the game at that moment. When I was growing up, from a New Zealand perspective we had Shane Bond, obviously a lot of those Australian quicks were doing a great job, Brett Lee… Glenn McGrath.”

“As you get older you watch bits and pieces of Dale Steyn… You always try to watch the guys at the top of the game and if we look at it from the current perspective, you look at guys like (Pat) Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood, Jasprit (Bumrah), (Kagiso) Rabada.”

Jamieson, who leads a relatively fledgling New Zealand bowling attack, said it was “great” for new faces to get the experience of playing in India.

“Everyone tries to help each other and I’ve been lucky to have been to this country a few times and experienced everything that comes with playing cricket in this country,” he said.

“It was so cool to see them experiencing it for the first time, the crowds, the noise, all kinds of boundaries and Virat and Rohit (Sharma) coming out,” he added.