Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli on Friday admitted his side was blown away by an “amazing batting” performance from Jonny
Bairstow and Ben Stokes, who set the stage for England’s biggest-ever chase against the hosts in ODI cricket in the second of the three-match series in Pune. The series is now level at 1-1 with the third and final match scheduled for Sunday. 

India
set an imposing target of 337 runs but England took the target head on with Stokes and
Bairstow slaughtering the Indian bowlers as the visitors completed the chase with six wickets and 6.3 overs to spare.

Kohli said that he was quite astonished that despite chasing a daunting total, England were able to stitch together a 100 run partnership.

“It was
going to be challenging if we stayed in the game for long periods”, PTI quoted Kohli as saying.

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“We didn’t execute too
well but I thought they batted brilliantly tonight. It was some of the most
amazing batting you’ll see when chasing. They totally blew us away during that
partnership of Jonny and Ben Stokes. We didn’t even have a chance during that
partnership.”

Asked if dew played a role, Kohli said, “I don’t think
the dew played any role at all. The ball wasn’t difficult to hold. You could
say the wicket settles down a bit under lights but that’s no excuse.

“When
two of the best teams in the world collide, one of them is going to win
convincingly. Last time we came back. This time England didn’t give us anything
at all.

“It’s
quite rare that if you play with that strike rate and give no chances. It shows
the quality of batting.”

Kohli, however, was happy with the batting effort
of his team, especially with centurion KL Rahul (108 off 114), Rishabh Pant (77 off
just 40) and Hardik Pandya (35 off 16).

“We
lost two wickets early on and needed a partnership. That happened with KL and
myself. KL carried on, really happy for him. Then Rishabh changed the game, and
Hardik finished it off as well,” said the India skipper, who scored 66 off
79.

Kohli
has been scoring crucial fifties in the ongoing white-ball series but a century
has eluded him so far.

Asked
if it has been bothering him, Kohli said, “I never played for 100s in my
life, that’s probably why I ended up getting so many (70) in such little time.”

“It’s
all about contributing to the team cause. If the team doesn’t win when you get
three figures it doesn’t mean anything. You’re not going to sit back at the end
of your career and look at numbers, it’s more about how you played the
game.”

England skipper Jos Buttler was delighted at the way his team made
a comeback after losing the opening ODI by 66 runs.

“I
think the most pleasing thing for us as a team is we didn’t go away from our
values as a team. We were bitterly disappointed after the first ODI,” he
said.

“Great
chase and happy we were able to go over the line fairly easily despite India
putting up a big total.” Buttler said his team didn’t move away from their
brand of aggressive cricket despite the loss.

“Better
wicket to be honest but we don’t really fear any totals to be honest. It could
have been easy to rein ourselves in after the last game but from a personal and
team point of view, it was important to play as we do,” he said.

Adjudged
Man of the Match for his 112-ball 124, Jonny bairstow said it was good to get
to three figures after missing out the last time.

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“Disappointed
to miss out in the last game, delighted to get over the line in this one,”
said the England opener, who had scored 94 in the first ODI.

“The
thought process was the same like the last game, exactly the same game plan.
Ben played some entertaining strokes down the ground, Jason (Roy) was going all
guns blazing at the top.

“They
bowled well at the start, especially Bhuvi. The relationship we (Bairstow and
Roy) got at the top of the order is great, hopefully it continues. The shot I
played over deep cover, I enjoyed that the most.”