Win against Pak was special: Virat Kohli
First Published : 30 Sep 2012, 23:28
Last Modified : 01 Oct 2012, 13:49
Colombo, Sep 30: After one off day at the office against Australia, Virat Kohli was back to his match-winning ways against Pakistan. By scoring a swashbuckling 78 and claiming the key wicket of Mohammad Hafeez, the youngster played a key role in India’s victory against Pakistan at a crucial juncture in the 2012 ICC World T20.
Speaking after receiving yet another Man-of-the-Match award, Kohli talked about his batting and the match.
Excerpts:
On how he maintains his composure
Well, the key is just to stay as calm as possible. In the last game I thought a bit too much before the game thinking it is an important game, Super Eights [etc]. I came back to my normal zone that I am in these days. I wasn’t thinking at all about the game [and] what I need to do today. My strength is to just go out there and play according to the situation, and that’s what I thrive on.
On his good batting form
God has been kind and I have been working hard as well. The key is to help the team win as a many games as possible; that is the most important thinking that you can do as a cricketer for your team and I just try my best when I am out there batting for the team. If I am batting well as long as I play for 10-15 overs, the team benefits from it. And that’s the whole idea.
On the pitch
It just gets a little better under lights. It is much slower in the day, but rain will play a big part as well in the second half. If it rains for five minutes, then the outfield gets wet and the wicket gets really good to bat on. It is generally a slow wicket, but a little better under lights.
On what it means to be Man-of-the-Match in a World Cup game against Pakistan
It doesn’t get any better for me, I guess. It is always an important game against them. It is always a high pressure game. A lot of people are expecting a lot of things. So as I said, God has been kind and the hard work paid off in this game and hopefully I can continue this form in the next game.
On how tough it was for the team to bounce back after the defeat against Australia
It was a special win for us. Playing against Pakistan in a World Cup game is a high pressure game. We didn’t really get the right result in the last game, [but] that’s the kind of format that Twenty20 is; you play really badly one day and the next day you can come back and rectify your mistakes and be a completely different team. We did really well to be completely calm in that one day that we got in between. I am really happy with the result today.
On the conditions when he came out to bat in the first over and his talk with Virender Sehwag
He just kept telling me to watch the ball, try and keep things as simple as possible. The one good thing that we had was that the bowlers restricted them to 128, so we didn’t have to rush ourselves in the first six overs. We could just play ourselves in and then later on when we were in a good position from where we could think about getting our net run-rate up. The key is to just stay calm [while chasing] a low total. It is tricky to chase a low total in Twenty20. But we pulled off a really good win, so I am really happy with that.
On reading Saeed Ajmal’s doosra well
I have been lucky to play him well. He is not such an easy bowler to get away with, but I sorted some things out, which are working for me right now. Unless he comes up with something different, I will try and stick to what I have planned against him. But yes, he is a world-class bowler and you can’t take him lightly. But at the moment I have been lucky that I have been playing well against him.
