Although he started off on a rough patch Virat Kohli did what he did best and managed to end it in pretty good numbers and he scored the last 50 runs of his total of 77 in the last 18 balls. Although Kohli seemed very happy with his performance the skipper felt it would have felt even sweeter if the performance was paired with the win. Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 77 in the third T20I against England received praised from all quarters but reacting on his innings, the India captain said he wouldn’t want to cherish knocks which ‘don’t help the team in any way.’ It was Kohli who led India to its revival with a second straight half century in the T20 after the scoreboard held an abysmal 86/5 at one point.
Kohli stated that “You don’t want to play knocks which don’t help the team in any way. It was a bit difficult to bat against the new ball. It was a bit tacky and the bowlers were getting a bit of assistance. Their pacers were hitting good areas. We got one little partnership and then towards the end with Hardik as well. It was important for me to bat deep into the innings because I knew that it would be easier for the set batsman to read the pace and bounce of the wicket. The case was to get set and try and get a decent total.”
Although India’s start with the bat could have been better, the one thing that bothered Kohli was the body language of his team, which the India captain feels, was off, especially at the time when England’s Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow were finding boundaries constantly. Kohli felt such conduct is unacceptable when a team is defending a total of 157.
“If you lose the toss, embrace what’s been asked of you as a team. The England bowlers were absolutely brilliant with the new ball. In the first six overs, they hardly gave us anything and made our lives very difficult,” Kohli said at the presentation ceremony after England beat India by eight wickets.
“We tried to come back as well as we could but I don’t think our body language in the second half was acceptable in the field. Defending 160, you need intensity and energy and that was lacking tonight.”
