Hard to contain Kohli when in form, says Jamieson
Kohli's 93 set up India's win as they chased down a 301-run target with six balls to spare in Vadodara on Sunday.
New Delhi: Keeping Virat Kohli quiet is a difficult proposition on any day, more so when he is in pristine form, which New Zealand found out in their four-wicket defeat to India in the first ODI of a three-match series.
Kohli's 93 set up India's win as they chased down a 301-run target with six balls to spare in Vadodara on Sunday.
He overtook Kumar Sangakkara to become the second most prolific run scorer in ODIs, only behind Sachin Tendulkar.
New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson, who has played alongside Kohli Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League, said that stopping him when in flow is impossible.
"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 said.
"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.
"He (Kohli) controlled the tempo through the middle and set the innings up for his team."
IPL an eye opener
Jamieson was New Zealand's most successful bowler with figures of 4/41 including dismissals of Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja (4) and Shreyas Iyer but couldn't prevent India from winning.
Jamieson has suffered from back injuries and has earned big bucks for playing in the IPL is glad to be free of pain and in the mix of things now.
"Like any player's journey has got its ups and downs and its own experiences, I was fortunate to (have) 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.