Virat Kohli smashed his 51st ODI century and 82nd in international cricket as India made short work of Pakistan in the crucial Champions Trophy clash in Dubai on Sunday, February 23. India already have four points in their kitty and will now have a week’s rest before facing New Zealand on March 2.
Indian batting great Virat Kohli was too honest about his age and his cricket as he reckoned that the break would be good not just for the team but for him personally as well after two back-to-back games for the Men in Blue in the Champions Trophy. Kohli, who smashed his record-extending 51st ODI century and 82nd overall across formats, reckoned that he is getting old and it takes a lot for him and his body to put in so much effort and that the week’s break came at the right time.
“To be honest, at 36, it’s very good [the break]. I don’t know about the 23, 24-year-olds, but for me, it’s really good. I just need to put my feet up for two days, because it takes a lot out of me now to keep putting that kind of effort on the field, and I’m just thankful that we have a bit of time off now,” said Kohli at the post-match presentation after being adjudged the Player of the Match for his unbeaten ton.
India after two consecutive wins in the ongoing Champions Trophy will now play their next match on Sunday, March 2 against New Zealand, who are potentially the other semi-finals contender from Group A having beaten Pakistan in the tournament opener.
Even though the target wasn’t a big one, the Indian batters needed to pace their innings well, especially since Abrar Ahmed was getting a lot of purchase from a sluggish surface in Dubai in the middle overs. Kohli stressed the importance of the 64-run powerplay for India and how it allowed him, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer to just bat as they wanted to against the spinners in the middle overs.
“It feels good to be able to bat in that manner in an important game where we wanted to see our qualification into the semis and to contribute in a situation like that where we kind of lost Rohit early, and then we had to string in a partnership, took the learnings from the last game, and we played the conditions, the understanding of how to go about things.”
“My job was pretty clear to control the middle overs to try and go after the seam bowlers and not take too many risks against the spinners, but keep rotating strike. Once we strung in a nice partnership, then towards the end, I think as Shreyas accelerated and I got a few boundaries away as well, but yeah, it was more or less the way I play cricket, so I was happy with the template,” Kohli added while expressing his satisfaction about how it all worked out in the end.
India chased down the score with 45 balls to spare as they moved to the top of the table in Group A for now with the Black Caps set to take on Bangladesh in their second match of the competition in Rawalpindi.
