Virat Kohli also talked about returning back to the form and said he shifted his focus back to the basics.
Team India captain Virat Kohli played a ferocious knock of unbeaten 73 runs in the second T20I against England to power his team to a 7-wicket win. Ahead of the match, Kohli was facing a lot of scrutiny for his rough patch as he was dismissed for a duck in the opening match. The Indian captain bounced back and also become the first player in international cricket to reach 3000 T20I runs.
Kohli revealed that he had a chat with his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate AB de Villiers ahead of the match regarding his batting.
“I had a special chat with AB de Villiers before this game and he told me just to watch the ball. So I did!” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
Kohli and ABD shared a great camaraderie both on and off the field and often seen praising each other on several occasions.
The Indian captain also talked about the all-round effort of the players in the match, especially bowlers for giving only 34 runs in the last five bowlers.
“Quite a good game for us. I think we ticked all the boxes we wanted to. Especially in the first innings with the ball. To give away only 34 in the last five, very smart bowling. Specially Washy, he had only one left-hander to bowl to and he used the big boundary to the right-handers better,” Kohli said.
The 32-year-old also talked about returning back to the form and said he shifted his focus back to the basics.
“I had to shift the focus back to the basics. Probably thinking of too many variables on the outside. I’ve always taken pride in doing the job for the team, so more happy about that than scoring 70 odd. Kept my eye on the ball. The management spoke to me about things,” he added.
The Indian captain shared a crucial 94-run stand alongside debutant Ishan Kishan who also scored a half-century. Kohli heaped huge praise on the southpaw and said he took away the game from England.
“Special mention to Ishan. I tried to do what I can but he just took the game away from the opposition. Quality innings on debut. When you play in the IPL with such dominance like he has, against quality bowlers. We’ve seen him hit international fast bowlers fo big sixes. He knew he was hitting the ball well but he was calculated, not reckless. Today that counter-attacking innings of his and our partnership was something the team needed,” Kohli said.
