Mirpur, Mar 18: A brilliant batting performance, led by a masterful 183 from Virat Kohli, helped India beat Pakistan by six wickets to keep their Asia Cup final hopes alive. India skipper MS Dhoni complemented his batters’ effort and urged his team to continue in the same vein in the upcoming matches, during the post-match presentation.
Excerpts
On the win against Pakistan
When they were batting, I felt as a skipper I couldn’t do much. They batted brilliantly, we used eight bowlers. Most of the time when you use eight bowlers, it means things aren’t going your way. But we all knew the wicket gets slightly better under lights; still you need to get partnerships. And once Gautam [Gambhir] got out, Sachin [Tendulkar] and Virat Kohli] batted brilliantly. [There was] a very important innings by Rohit Sharma also. He is someone who can really be a good finisher; he is very calm and cool on the field. Overall it was a fantastic effort by Virat Kohli. It never looked as if he slogged any deliveries; he just played proper cricket shots. Overall, I’m very happy with the performance.
On how the team regrouped after conceding 329
Once you cross the 300 mark, it’s always a difficult one to chase irrespective of where you are playing and how flat the wicket is. It’s just that we have chased over 300 in Hobart recently. We have the potential and we all knew the wicket is very good to bat on. Still you have to apply yourself and select the right deliveries to play your big shots. So I think we did it really well over here, but it’s something we need to continue with.
On the future of Indian batting being safe in the hands of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
I’ve always said we’ve got the talent, not only in the batting department but also in the bowling department. How to handle pressure – that’s something really critical and you only learn it once you are playing the game and once you are under the hammer. It’s not something that you learn seeing others. I think [the youngsters will] learn a lot from games like these and it will increase their self-belief […]. If the opposition scores 300-odd runs, it’s a very chaseable score.
