‘I am messing this up’: Virat Kohli opens up on slow start vs PAK in T20 WC
Virat Kohli played one of the greatest knocks in T20I cricket against Pakistan in the Super 12 encounter of the T20 World Cup on Sunday. Kohli's gritty innings, which saw him return unbeaten on 82 runs off 53 balls, ensured Team India chased down the 160-run target and won the match by four wickets. What made the chase even more special was Kohli dragging the side to victory, who at one stage were reeling at 31-4.
India lost KL Rahul early and were reduced to 7/1, when Kohli walked out to bat. Things got worse as Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel also were packed early, putting immense pressure on Kohli and Hardik Pandya to complete the chase, which appeared an uphill task. Kohli started off slow and at one stage could only manage 12 runs off the first 21 balls he faced.
Kohli, who eventually turned out to be the match-winner for India, shared his thought process during the epic run chase, where also spoke about the slow start.
"When I was 12 off 21, I was like 'I am really messing this game up. I am not putting ball in the gaps'. But when you have experience and understand the value of batting deep, that's always been my role playing for India. I know that I can do a lot of the power-hitting towards the end of the innings," said Kohli on Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the T20 World Cup.
Also read: ‘I spoke to my wife…’: Virat Kohli reveals conversation with Anushka Sharma after India’s T20 World Cup win vs Pakistan
The former India captain was all praise for teammate Hardik Pandya with whom he stitched a 100-plus stand and rescued India from a tough situation.
"Honestly, I was feeling a lot of pressure at that stage. But then when he came in and he hit a few boundaries, I kind of opened up. That partnership, we didn't even realise when we got to our 100. We kept talking, we kept running hard and kept watching their body language. We knew it would turn at some stage, it turned quite late to be honest. We would have liked to do it earlier," the former India captain stated.
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