Indian captain Virat Kohli is celebrating his 33rd birthday today on November 5, 2021, and India is clashing with Scotland in a must-win match of the T20 World Cup 2021 for the Men in Blue in Dubai.
India, who lost both their first two matches to Pakistan and New Zealand respectively, beat Afghanistan in their previous match and are looking to earn big wins against Scotland and Namibia in hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Kohli celebrated his birthday in grand style as he won the toss, which was the first time after 6 T20I matches, and opted to bowl first.
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Presenter Pommie Mbangwa of Zimbabwe was aware of the fact that Kohli won a toss after a long time and that too on his birthday, mentioned this to Kohli and the Indian captain said that they should have played their first game vs Pakistan on his birthday.
“We are going to bowl first. Dew is going to be a big factor. Try and restrict them and chase it down convincingly if the situation allows us to. Winning my first toss on my birthday, probably we should have played the first game on my birthday (smiles)," Kohli said with a smile.
Here is the video of Kohli winning the toss:
Prior to this game, Kohli had lost the toss six times in a row in T20Is. Since 2020, he had led India in 18 matches in the format and won the toss on six occasions. Across formats since 2020, this is Kohli's 42nd game as captain. India won the toss only 11 times - 6 in T20Is, 2 in ODIs, and thrice in Tests.
Kohli's India made one change from their match against Afghanistan, with Varun Chakravarthy coming in for Shardul Thakur. This means that India opted for three spinners and two pacers against Scotland.
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"The intensity from ball one is important. For us, it's just about keeping that intensity on for 20 overs. That's something we expect from people and people have done that over the years as well. Shardul makes way for Varun. He is back fit, so he will be our third spinner," Kohli informed his team.
Meanwhile, former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn met up with Virat Kohli after the toss and the birthday boy told him, “About time I won a toss,” with both laughing at the incident.
Here is the video:
