ICC T20 World Cup 2016: Virat Kohli believes that India have the ability to beat Australia if they play to potential
Ahead of the crunch World T20 encounter against Australia at Mohali, Indian star batsman Virat Kohli said that it was difficult to remain consistent in the T20 format and praised skipper MS Dhoni for his match-winning run out against Bangladesh on Wednesday.
“It was very good to get that win against Bangladesh. It's very difficult to consistently win in this format.
“Experience counts. MS Dhoni has led the team in big match scenarios and that's what helps to deal with pressure conditions. I was at long-off and I was surprised to see MS run to the stumps. He is confident of his abilities. Dhoni's biggest quality is he remains calm. It was helpful that there was Nehra next to him who remained calm as well,” Kohli said at a pre-match press conference in Mohali.
Looking ahead to the match on Sunday, the 27-year-old said that Aussie captain Steve Smith, who has had such a prolific run against the Indians in the last 12-15 months, provided them with solidity in the middle-order and was one of the key components of their batting line-up.
“Steve Smith has been a very important player for Australia. The way their batting unit works, he gives them the solidity in the middle order, which is great for any new team. He is a very good player and world class player and in these scenarios you always want the big players out,” he said.
In recent times, India have had some good success over Australia in the shortest format of the game, but the right-hander wasn't willing to take anything for granted and felt that if the Men In Blue play to potential, they can defeat Australia on Sunday.
“That performance[3-0 win over Australia in January] was sort of a catalyst for our T20 performance this season.But we can't take anything for granted. It's a virtual quarter-final for us. If we play to potential we have the ability to repeat that but it's important to be aware why we beat them before,” he said.
When asked about how he was handling multiple responsibilities at such a young age and about his mental approach, Kohli said that he always looked to improve at every practice session and added it also boiled down to how much a player believed in himself to go out there and perform.
“It surprises me because initially, a lot about me was wrong. I have tattoos, I wear stylish clothes etc. But it's every easy to focus on those things but very difficult to improve your skills on a daily basis, without thinking about the result too much.
My basic thinking is if I go into a practice session, I want to learn something, I want to improve. I want to be an improved cricketer, even if its is by 0.1% after the end of each practice session. You make sure you stack up your hard work every day and it pays off at some point.
There is no magic wand that I have that I am just swinging it and scoring runs. Everyone wants to do well. Everyone wants to score runs.It's about how much you believe that you can do it. I think that's the major factor at the international level.
For me stepping into the cricket field is an opportunity, not a pressure situation. I look at it as a challenge that I need to overcome.,” Kohli said.