After India’s comprehensive 10-wicket loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021 opener, skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday (October 24) said the six-day gap before their next match against New Zealand would help his side as they will be able to reflect and re-strategise.
In the much-awaited clash, Pakistan restricted India to 151/7 on the back of Shaheen Afridi’s sensational spell of 3 for 31 in four overs. India’s famed batting line-up couldn’t rise to the occasion and Kohli was the top scorer with 49-ball 57.
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In reply, Pakistan rode on unbeaten half-centuries from Mohammad Rizwan (79* off 55 balls) and captain Babar Azam (68 not out off 52 balls) to overhaul the target with 13 balls to spare.
"I think it works really well for us from all point of views. Knowing that we have played a full-fledged season already, we played the IPL, which is very high octane by itself in testing conditions here in the UAE, and then we come into the World Cup.So for us, these big breaks are definitely something that's going to help us as a team to be in the prime physical condition that we need to be to play this high intensity tournament," Kohli said at the post-match press conference.
"The T20 World Cup is always a high intensity tournament, and it will help us, again, to regroup as a team...prepare in a very confident manner and then arrive on the day again to make sure that this time we execute our plans. For us as a team personally I can say it's a good thing that's happening. We'll have time to reflect and to prepare again," he added.
While Kohli admitted that the Indian team was "outplayed" by Pakistan, he expressed concerns that the chasing team will have an advantage with the dew coming in during the night games.
"Yes, toss definitely is going to be a factor in this tournament especially. If the dew keeps creeping in in the later half the game, you need those extra runs in the first half then," Kohli said.
According to Kohli, the track served in Dubai was a good one to bat on and it became a little better in the second half.
"If the pitch becomes a little better to bat on and you get off to a start, then you start feeling more confident about the chase. That's what happened," he explained. "The dew came in towards the second half of the Pakistan innings, 10 overs onwards. We could not even get dot balls in because the pitch was obviously providing a big pace for the batsman to work with. The slower balls were not holding up as much."
Kohli feels the cushion of 20-25 extra runs would have helped his side but it didn’t happen with the first 6 overs not going India’s way.
"These small little factors, as I said, it did make a massive difference, and as a team you need to understand what was the reality of the situation out there in the middle.
"That's where those 20, 25 extra runs would have been good, but brilliant bowling in the first six did not allow us to get those extra runs."
(With PTI inputs)
