You never really feel like you're on top of him – Ashton Agar on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli’s stunning 84 laid down the bedrock for Team India as they beat Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final. Kohli’s knock was a totem of clean shots and some profound control which saw him toying around with the bowlers. He used his feet extensively in the innings and there was barely a chink in his armour which left the world in awe of him.

Australian turner, Ashton Agar opened up on Virat Kohli’s brilliance in the semi-final, underscoring the key points which makes the former Indian captain the great that he is. Talking on ESPNCricinfo’s Match Day show after the game, Agar highlighted how Kohli makes life miserable for his opposition bowlers.

Headline: You never really feel like you're on top of him – Ashton Agar on Virat Kohli

Meta headline: You never really feel like you're on top of him – Ashton Agar on Virat Kohli

Meta description: Ashton Agar hails Virat Kohli as a giant of ODI cricket after match-winning knock against Australia

Virat Kohli’s stunning 84 laid down the bedrock for Team India as they beat Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final. Kohli’s knock was a totem of clean shots and some profound control which saw him toying around with the bowlers. He used his feet extensively in the innings and there was barely a chink in his armour which left the world in awe of him.

Australian turner, Ashton Agar opened up on Virat Kohli’s brilliance in the semi-final, underscoring the key points which makes the former Indian captain the great that he is. Talking on ESPNCricinfo’s Match Day show after the game, Agar highlighted how Kohli makes life miserable for his opposition bowlers.

Revealing the exact feeling about what bowlers go through while bowling to a primed Kohli, Agar said, “That's the frustrating part about bowling to him. It is not the damage that he can do to the fence, it's just the fact that you cannot build pressure on him. So it's really hard to get him out in a sense. You never really feel like you're on top of him unless the ball is really spinning. And you don't get a lot of pitches in one-day cricket like that.”

He further added, “He has this fantastic ability to hit your best ball, the top of middle stump, slightly spinning away, he holds the bat's face slightly longer than other batters do, opens it in the last second, and hits it in the cover point gap. He's probably the best in the world at doing that and he's very difficult to build pressure on.”

Agar shed further light about how India made Virat the central figure and revolved around him, stating, “India batted around Virat beautifully. The guys who came in kept pushing the rate and allowed Virat to do his thing, hit the odd boundary and just keep ticking over. I saw a stat that Virat has scored the most singles since the year 2000, which is phenomenal. It was a bit of a masterclass from him and all the batters contributed nicely."