Virat Kohli made a wonderful ton in India's 59-run win via DLS method in the second ODI against West Indies in Trinidad on Sunday (August 11). And the skipper was left pretty satisfied as his brilliant 125-ball 120 featured in the team's very strong 279/7 after an early departure of the openers.
"We knew that anything over 270 would be challenging. It feels good to get a hundred when the team wanted me to get one," said Virat at the post-match ceremony where he was also awarded "Player-of-the-Match" for his 42nd ODI hundred.
"Shikhar and Rohit didn't get a big one. One of the top three has always got the big one. A senior man had to step up and today was my opportunity to step up. It was important to string in a lot of dot balls."
Virat confirmed it was a very good toss to win for India as the surface got tricky to bat on in the second half.
"Good outing with the bat. Exactly why we wanted to bat first. If you saw the later half of the West Indies innings, it was difficult to bat on. I think the rain in between helped them else it would have been tough to bat in the middle," he said.
"The batting became a little easy thanks to the rain when (Shimron) Hetymer and (Nicholas) Pooran were batting together. It was tough gripping the ball when it went into the outfield. It was about staying in there and hoping one wicket will put pressure on them and luckily we got the wickets."
Apart from Virat, Shreyas Iyer (71) played an innings of substance in the Indian innings.
"He (Iyer) is a very confident guy and has the right attitude. Really got the tempo going and took the pressure of me. After I got out, he got the extra runs as well," said Virat himself before showing praise on the bowling unit as Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/32), Mohammed Shami (2/39), Khaleel Ahmed (1/32) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/59) delivered fine spells.
"The number of left-handers work in favour of Kuldeep and that's why we went in with him rather than Chahal. He is more lethal against the left-handers because of his variations and the lines that he bowls to them."
"Kedar (Jadhav) was precise as well. With the number of left-handers, you want to go with a chinaman bowler rather than a leggie. With Jadeja playing, it helps our balance," the skipper concluded.
(Inputs from PTI)
