"A legend at work!"- Twitterati hails Virat Kohli after his phenomenal 80*

Virat Kohli smashed his third half-century in four innings and continued his dominance over England in the ongoing T20I series. The 32-year-old played his role of anchoring the Indian innings to perfection and scored an unbeaten 80 runs off just 52 balls.

The Indian skipper decided to open the innings and replaced an out-of-form KL Rahul. While the decision raised a few eyebrows, many were also excited to witness the mouth-watering prospect of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma opening together.

Fans on Twitter laud Virat Kohli for his sensational innings

The duo added 94 runs in just 9 overs and gave the hosts the flying start that they were missing the whole series. Fans on Twitter hailed Kohli for his captain's knock. They also believe this is the perfect batting position for the 32-year-old and that he should stick to opening alongside Rohit.

Here is what they had to say:

Virat Kohli goes past A Finch to become 6th highest run scorer in T20sGayle - 13720Pollard - 10629S. Malik - 10488B. McCullum - 9922Warner - 9824KOHLI - 9731*Finch - 9718#ViratKohli #INDvENG #ENGvsIND #Stats #T20I

— Prathik 🇮🇳 (@traphikp) March 20, 2021

Rohit Sharma's pull? Or Virat Kohli's hook. Seen the best of both this evening

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 20, 2021

Virat Kohli was in lots of pain through the innings but still ran 40 runs through singles and double. Great batting from the King in series decider.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 20, 2021

Records broken by Virat Kohli tonight:- Most T20is runs as captain.- Most T20is fifties as captain.- Most runs in full members T20i series.- Most runs as captain in a T20i series.

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 20, 2021

Most runs in a bilateral T20I series (full member teams)231 VIRAT KOHLI v Eng 2021 (5 inngs)224 KL Rahul vs NZ 2020 (5)223 Colin Munro v WI 2018 (3)222 Hamilton Masakadza v Ban (4)#INDvENG

— Adi (@adityam77) March 20, 2021

What An Amazing Innings played by King Virat Kohli. He scored 80* runs from 52 balls including 7 Fours and 2 Sixes against England. His Third fifty in this series. Top class innings from a Top Class player. #INDvENG

— Debmalya Datta (@debmalyadatta_) March 20, 2021

People thought Virat Kohli was done 😂 Jirre. He's unbelievable 😍 Incredibly grateful to witness a legend at work! #INDvENG

— EEMS (@NaeemahBenjamin) March 20, 2021

On a different note, is there a better runner between wickets than Virat Kohli in World Cricket ryt now ?The man is unbelievable, ran two's for fun even when he was struggling !🔥#INDvENG

— Anubhav Chatterjee (@anubhav__tweets) March 20, 2021

This is the first time each of the top-4 Indian batsmen hit multiple sixes in a T20I innings.Rohit Sharma - 5 sixesVirat Kohli - 2 sixesSuryakumar Yadav - 2 sixesHardik Pandya - 2 sixes#INDvENG

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) March 20, 2021

Virat Kohli tried that reverse sweep, understood that it’s not the best option for him. Kept it away and turned to his favorite option to get the runs. Great players don’t make the same mistake twice during the same innings. They are problem solvers. #INDvENG #ViratKohli

— Cricket With Ash (@CricketWithAsh) March 20, 2021

3 scores of 70+ in a single T20I series/tournamentMahela Jayawardene in World T20 2010Virat Kohli in this series#INDvENG

— Rohit Yadav (@cricrohit) March 20, 2021

70+ as No.370+ as No.470+ as OpenerOnly Virat Kohli can do this looks really easy.#INDvENG

— Captain (@iEatCricket) March 20, 2021

For opener , Youngsters , Finishers or New Comers Virat Kohli has Played the role of anchor Better than anybody in the world cricket. Years after years he's been the biggest +ve for any team in middle order

— ᴠɪʀᴀᴛ ᴠᴇʀɪʏᴀɴ (@WhiteDevil18_) March 20, 2021

With Team India struggling to find consistent starts from their openers for a while in T20Is, Virat Kohli knew he had to make this innings count. Rohit's blistering knock helped the Indian skipper take the first 20-odd balls to get his eye in. Once the 33-year-old departed and Kohli was set, he took charge of the Indian innings.

Every single batsman played their part to perfection during India's innings as Hardik Pandya also contributed with some solid hitting towards the end to take India to 224-2 in 20 overs. This is exactly the kind of fearless brand Virat Kohli wanted the Men in Blue to adopt in T20Is and he should be pleased to see his teammates finally delivering.

But most importantly, Kohli's sensational knock, coupled with Rohit's blitzkrieg, has genuinely given India a world-class opening combination which they could consider for the upcoming T20 World Cup.