After the 1st 10 overs of India-Australia match, Virat Kohli had a fear that they would be out of ICC World T20. However, he doesn’t have any idea as to how he and Dhoni managed to achieve this target.
He stated that “It virtually felt like you are out of the tournament at the end of 10 overs. To pull the game back after that along with MS Dhoni – I don’t know how we did it. Even out there in the middle, I didn’t know how this was happening. I am just grateful that I was able to do it for the team”.
Super emotional after Dhoni’s Boundary!
He expressed that he become quite emotional after M.S Dhoni hit that winning boundary. He again states “It was a pretty emotional feeling when I saw Dhoni hitting the winning runs. I don’t really know what to say. That is the reason you play the sport. That is the feeling that you crave as a sportsperson. It is such a wonderful moment for your team. To see your teammates celebrate and get happy is a wonderful feeling,”
He didn’t know how he managed 39 runs in 3 overs
He added that he had never played an innings wherein 39 runs were needed in the last 3 years and he has been pull it off with Dhoni who was batting at the other end. He stated that he took the decision of targeting James Faulkner in 18th over. The thoughts and pre-planning kept coming to his mind. He was 100 percent sure that he had to target James Faulkner. He thought that 1 over needs to be a big one and must have at least 15 runs. He was happy to achieve 19 in that.
All he wanted is boundaries
He adds “I thought if we don’t get too many boundaries, we might be struggling in the end because the pitch was not as flat. The slower balls were holding up. It was very important to stay in the moment and pick your gaps. It was a quick outfield, so I knew if I could beat the fielder inside the ring, I would probably end up getting four runs.”
Partnership is important and this is what Dhoni gave him!
Virat feels that the best part to have Dhoni is that he kept pushing for twos. Appreciating Dhoni, he says “Credit to MS Dhoni. He kept me calm and kept telling me – ‘Pick your areas, these many runs are left in these many balls’. He didn’t want me to get carried away or over excited. He just kept telling me what are the areas I could pick and that just gave me assurance,”
He kept giving assurance and confidence to Kohli. He feels that this is where partnership and communication helps. He feels wonderful to get the team of out of a bad situation. At last he adds “I don’t know where I would put this chase. It is up to the people to decide that. I enjoy playing every innings for my country. Hopefully, they think this is one of the better chases the Indian team has pulled off. Not just me, it is an effort by everyone. I scored 82; I didn’t score all the runs in the game. Others have contributed as well, so credit goes to them also.”