New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jamieson hailed India icon Virat Kohli after the latter's stellar knock during the first ODI between the two teams at the BCA Stadium on Sunday, January 11.
Kohli has been in insane touch in recent times and has scored seven fifty-plus scores in his last seven List A innings. Kohli continued his Midas touch and slammed a masterful 93 as he helped India chase down 301 in the series opener in Vadodara.
Kyle Jamieson, who had nearly pulled off a miracle for New Zealand in the opener, hailed Kohli for his knock and expressed how difficult it is to bowl to him.
"It's hard to say from an opposition point of view whether this is the best version of him or not -- he's been pretty good for a long time, right?" Jamieson told the media after Sunday's loss.
"You feel every time you come up against him, you've got to be at your absolute best to even compete. He's on a different level; he plays the game on a different level to most cricketers, and he looked pretty good for the most part.
"We'll just have to try and come up with some plans to try and contain him, but (then) you don't contain the greats, they have their way a little bit, so just enjoyed watching him play for sure," Jamieson added.
Jamieson was the standout bowler across both sides, finishing with impressive figures of 4/41, but his efforts were not enough to prevent defeat as he triggered a brief collapse by removing Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja (4) and Shreyas Iyer in quick succession.
"He (Kohli) controlled the tempo through the middle and set the innings up for his team," Jamieson admitted. Jamieson, who has experienced both the highs of securing a lucrative IPL contract and the lows of spending time on the sidelines with back-related issues, said he now views his career with greater gratitude than ever before.
"Like any player's journey has got its ups and downs and its own experiences, I was fortunate to burst onto the scene in a way and have a bit of an impact and spend some time here with the IPL early on," he said.
"(It) certainly (was an) eye-opening experience and something I probably wasn't quite ready for at that stage in my life, and (I've) been on a bit of a journey as well with the back issues over the last couple of years.
"My perspective has changed a fair bit, I look at touring and playing cricket and just being on the park with a fair amount of gratitude these days than probably what I did (before)," he added.
