Struggling to post a substantial score lately, Virat Kohli played a vital role with the bat in India’s thumping 7-wicket victory over England in the second T20I at Ahmedabad on Sunday (March 14).
The hosts were chasing 165 in 20 overs and the skipper slammed 73 not out off 49 balls to take his team over the line with 13 balls to spare.
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After the game, Kohli, who had recorded three ducks in his last five international innings, revealed that a “special chat” with his Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate AB de Villiers helped him to get back to his best in the second T20I.
“I had to shift the focus back to the basics. Probably thinking of too many variables on the outside. I’ve always taken pride in doing the job for the team, so more happy about that than scoring 70 odd.
“Kept my eye on the ball. The management spoke to me about things. Anushka is here so she also keeps speaking to me about thinks. And I had a special chat with AB de Villiers before this game and he told me just to watch the ball. So I did,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
Chasing the target, India lost KL Rahul for a duck but Kohli and debutant Ishan Kishan (56 of 32 balls) added 94 runs for the second wicket to put the hosts on the brink of victory.
“Special mention to Ishan. I tried to do what I can but he just took the game away from the opposition. Quality innings on debut. When you play in the IPL with such dominance like he has, against quality bowlers.
“We’ve seen him hit international fast bowlers for big sixes. He knew he was hitting the ball well but he was calculated, not reckless. Today that counter-attacking innings of his and our partnership was something the team needed,” said Kohli praising the young southpaw.
With the ball, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur were the stand-out performers for India, claiming 2 wickets by conceding 29 runs each in their respective four overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1-28) was also economical and took the prized scalp of Jos Buttler for nought.
“I think we ticked all the boxes we wanted to. Especially in the first innings with the ball. To give away only 34 in the last five, it was very smart bowling. Especially Washy (Washington Sundar), he had only one left-hander to bowl to and he used the big boundary to the right-handers better,” the Indian captain remarked.
(With PTI inputs)
