Virat Kohli put on a show with the bat in India’s Asia Cup 2022 match against arch-rivals Pakistan at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (September 4).
Kohli arrived in the middle after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma in the sixth over. The former India skipper was full of intent right from the start. However, he had to change his approach in the middle overs as the Men in Blue kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Kohli eventually finished with 60 off 44 balls before getting run out in the final over, helping India post 181/7 on the board.
After the game, Virat Kohli reflected on his knock, saying he wanted to bat at a swift pace but slowed down fearing that he would run out of partners in the death overs.
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"Today I was making a conscious effort to strike at a higher pace," Kohli said at the post-match press conference after India’s five-wicket loss at the hands of Pakistan.
"When we lost wickets, there was communication and our plans changed, where I had to bat till the 18th over with (Deepak) Hooda. If there were a couple of batters, I would've gone with the same tempo and tried to hit more boundaries or sixes. But again, I ended up being in a situation where I had to go deep."
"Because after Hooda and me, it was Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), so the bowlers were to follow. That makes a bit of a difference, but we do possess the skills to analyse the situation and play accordingly as well."
It was Kohli's second successive half-century in the tournament after his 59-run knock against Hong Kong in the group stage. Having regained his form after an extended lean patch, Virat was at his attacking best but slowing down cost him and India 20-25 runs.
"If you've seen the way we've been playing, it's given us the results we need, and in our middle overs, the run rate has also improved," Kohli said.
"It's something I, as a batsman, really took keen notice of, and I knew that is one area we need to keep improving on. We've spoken about this that sometimes it won't come off, the way you want and today, we lost a few wickets in the middle phase which didn't allow us to go towards the 200 target."
"But given the situation, if we had a couple of wickets in hand, we could've got more runs. We're not disturbed by losing wickets through the middle overs, because that's the way we want to play. We want to be able to get those 20-25 extra runs that can eventually make the difference in big games," he remarked.
Kohli said he is enjoying the dressing room environment, which is reflecting on his batting as well.
"The camaraderie with the boys is amazing. The environment within the team is amazing, so I'm absolutely loving playing at the moment all over again and feeling good the way I'm batting," he stated.
Kohli praised Haris Rauf for his slower balls and yorkers in the final over but he is confident about his batting at the same time.
"He nailed those slower balls and yorkers, with that pace when you execute, it's always difficult to get it away. I'm going to continue - especially batting first - to bat the (same) way, trying to take the game on and stay ahead of the asking rate, understanding the conditions and just bat freely.
"As long as I am in a good space and confident of my batting, I know I can bat in many ways. It's just about getting back into the groove and getting confident with how you're playing and once that happens then the situation dictates how you need to play," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
