Indian talismanic batter Virat Kohli admitted that he thought he was messing up the game against Pakistan at the iconic MCG in the T20 World Cup on Sunday after he got off to a sedate start. As India lost early wickets in the run-chase of 160 runs, Kohli had to adopt a precarious approach.
Kohli scored 11 runs from the first 21 balls while he changed the gears to score 71 runs in the next 33 balls he faced. India found themselves on the ropes at 31-4 and it was crucial for the team to build a partnership. Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli did exactly that as they added 113 runs off 78 balls to keep their team in the contest.
It was an unbelievable comeback from the Indian team as Kohli and Pandya were able to handle the pressure with great success.
“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.
Kohli admitted that he was feeling a lot of pressure at the early stage of the innings but believes Hardik Pandya was able to take the pressure off his shoulders by finding some boundaries.
“Honestly, I was feeling a lot of pressure at that stage. But then when he came in and hit a few boundaries, I kind of opened up. That partnership, we didn’t even realize 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.
Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli were able to handle the pressure when India had their backs against the wall and it was the turning point of the game.
However, Kohli added the finishing touches as he was at his lethal best in the end. 28 runs were needed off the last eight balls and Kohli did the majority of the scoring.
India will lock horns against the Netherlands in their second match of the T20I showpiece on Thursday at the SCG.
