"It was not about how many balls we had played" - Virat Kohli on 'highlight' of special partnership between him and KL Rahul in 2023 World Cup
Star Indian batter Virat Kohli feels one of the main reasons why his match-winning partnership with KL Rahul against Australia was special was that the duo had to grind it out in the middle.
From a horrific situation at 2/3, the two batters gradually brought India's innings back on track through sheer determination, showcasing excellent temperament. They had to run hard between the wickets and that whole experience was special for Kohli.
In a video posted by the BCCI, here's what Virat Kohli told KL Rahul about their partnership (1:31):
"The highlight of our partnership for me was how content we were to just knock the ball around. It was not about how many balls we had played and how many runs we had got.
"Just fighting through the physical challenges of what we had come through in the afternoon and in the evening the pressure even makes you more tensed and fatigued. Just knocking the ball around and reducing the total by 10-15 runs at a time. That for me was something that helped us build the big partnership."
Kohli also opened up on the frenzy that was caused by the batting collapse (0:38):
"I know the situation wasn't ideal. When you came in, I know you were all over the place while walking in and you were still padding up and putting gloves and all that (laughs). The first thing I told you was that it was a quick turnaround. It was quite bizarre. The start was quite bizarre."
Virat Kohli on playing in front of his own pavilion
India will now face Afghanistan in their next World Cup game in Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, which is also Virat Kohli's home ground. The local boy also has a pavilion named after him and Kohli really feels privileged to have the feeling of going back to where it all belonged for him.
On this, he stated (3:35):
"Of course for me that's a place where I have played my age-group cricket, Ranji trophy cricket and for India as well. So that memory is always fresh as when you go back into those memories you can feel it because that's where everything started. It's a bit awkward for me to be still playing and playing in front of a pavilion named after me.
"I don't like to talk a lot about it but it's a great honor and I hadn't thought that it would happen when my career started and I feel great to go back and see the things that have happened."
Given the history that Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq has had with Virat Kohli, it could be a riveting encounter if the duo face off in the latter's den.