New Delhi: Virat Kohli revealed to PM Modi that he lacked confidence while playing in T20 World Cup last month in the USA and Caribbean in a meeting on Thursday in the Capital. The whole Indian team after winning the T20 World Cup last Saturday was stranded in Barbados due to Hurricane Beryl before the BCCI brought them back on special charter flight that landed in the country on Thursday morning. Post arrival, Indian team met PM Modi for a breakfast in the latter’s residence.
Opening the innings in the T20 World Cup, Kohli struggled to find form with the bat at the top. His scores in the first three games read 1 (Ireland), 4 (Pakistan), 0 (USA). The former India captain got some runs in the Super 8 against Bangladesh and Afghanistan before falling for another duck against Australia.
Before the final, he could only muster up just 75 runs at an average of 10.71, which was well below the standards that he had set over the years. But in the final against South Africa, Kohli rose to the occasion and brought the best out of himself, proving that ‘form is temporary and class is permanent’.
His rollicking 76 off 59 deliveries set the tempo for the game and propelled India to a competitive total of 176/7. “This day will always remain in my mind because, in the entire tournament, I was not able to make the contribution that I wanted to and at one time,” Kohli told PM Modi.
Before the final of the marquee event, Rahul Dravid, who served as the head coach of the Indian team, had backed the stalwart batter to deliver in the final after his woeful T20 World Cup campaign. Even skipper Rohit Sharma showed confidence in Kohli’s ability to deliver in the final by saying that he was saving his best for the final.
“I also told Rahul bhai, that I have not done justice to both myself and the team till now. So he told me that when the situation comes, I am sure that you will come into form. So this conversation happened between us and when we went to play, I told Rohit, I did not have that much confidence that I would be able to bat the way I wanted to.
“So when we went to play, I got three fours in the first 4 balls, so I went and told him, what kind of a game is this? One day it seems that not even a single run will be scored, and then another day comes and everything starts happening,” Kohli said.
After living the historic moment, Kohli bid adieu to his T20I career and passed on the baton to the next generation.
