Virat Kohli credits MS Dhoni for helping him maintain composure during his innings
At the half-way mark of their innings, India needed 96 runs in the last 10 overs with Virat Kohli not out on 19 and a hobbling Yuvraj Singh not out on 9.
That equation boiled down to 39 required in 3 overs with Kohli, once again playing the anchor role in the company of MS Dhoni, James Faulkner ran in to bowl the 18th and perhaps one of the more important overs of his career so far. First ball: boundary, second ball: boundary, third ball: six. Kohli had suddenly turned the match on its head and paved the way for what eventually proved to be one of the most memorable chases in the history of T20 cricket.
Speaking after his stunning innings of 82 not out off 51 balls, the 27-year-old was at a loss of words and wasn't quite sure as to how he and the team pulled off the win, after being in a precarious position at the halfway mark.
“It was a pretty emotional feeling when I saw Dhoni hitting the winning runs. I don’t really know what to say. It virtually felt like you are out of the tournament at the end of 10 overs. To pull the game back after that along with MS Dhoni - I don’t know how we did it. Even out there in the middle, I didn’t know how this was happening. I am just grateful that I was able to do it for the team. That is the reason you play the sport. That is the feeling that you crave as a sports person. It is such a wonderful moment for your team. To see your teammates celebrate and get happy is a wonderful feeling,” the 27-year-old BCCI.tv in an interview, after the match.
Further crediting Dhoni for helping him maintain composure towards the end, Kohli said that the skipper helped understand what areas of the field would prove to be productive and his assurance in the middle, with regards to targeting those areas, gave him a lot of confidence.
“Credit to MS Dhoni. He kept me calm and kept telling me - ‘Pick your areas, these many runs are left in these many balls’. He didn’t want me to get carried away or over excited. He just kept telling me what are the areas I could pick and that just gave me assurance. If I was going to go towards covers, he would give me assurance again and I became confident. I think that is where communication and partnership helps. It was wonderful to pull the team out of that situation.
“I think what really helped was him running those twos. The opposition panicked a bit because of that. They were unsettled because they knew we could run the runs as well and get 12 off one over without taking a risk. I think that is when the bowlers started thinking too much,” he added.