Visakhapatnam, Oct 21: Indian middle-order batsman Virat Kohli, who smashed a career-best 118 to lead India to a five-wicket win over Australia in the second ODI, admitted that he was under pressure going into the match and added that he has to perform consistently well to cement his place in the playing XI for India.
The 21-year-old showed great temperament, despite a leg injury, as India overhauled Australia's 289 for three with seven balls to spare.
Excerpts from the press conference.
On the learning experience at the international level
I think the more matches you play at the international level, you tend to learn a lot more. I have tried to learn from my mistakes and capitalise on the opportunities that I got. You tend to fail sometimes as well but it is a part of you going ahead as an international cricketer. It all comes back and you’ve just got to keep working hard and do the basics right. You’ve got to prepare yourself really well to give yourself the best chance to perform out there [and] I have been trying to do that.
On scoring 118 runs off 121 balls
This innings was very satisfying because in the last two series I didn’t perform well. I got off to good starts but was unable to convert them to big scores. So this knock was very satisfying. There are three or four guys fighting for one spot in the team but that is a good thing because it shows our bench strength is strong. It also improves your performance and eagerness to score runs because you want to perform well. I don’t believe that my place has been cemented in the team. I have to keep performing consistently in the matches to come and maybe […] in the future I can [figure whether] my place is permanent or not.
On being under pressure coming into the match
Honestly, I was struggling early on because, as I said, I hadn’t scored in the last six or seven matches so I was under a bit of pressure. I was not hitting the gaps early in my innings but I decided to stick [in] there and get myself in. I knew I would be able to capitalise with the dew coming in. Obviously if you are chasing under pressure and the target is huge and if you make a big score, it gives you a really good feeling and lot of confidence.
On carrying forward the momentum
Australia is a strong team and it is a good feeling to beat them. We beat them in the Test series and we took the momentum into the ODI series. We wanted to capitalise from our victory in the Test series which we did [at Vizag] and we are happy.
On batting alongside Yuvraj Singh
I think having someone like Yuvraj at the other end is really helpful. You know he can hit the boundaries anytime and he has a lot of experience of the one-day game. He takes a lot of pressure off the guy batting at the other end so I had that advantage. It was a good partnership for us and it set the base for us to smash it in the Powerplay and that is what happened.
