Indian skipper Virat Kohli said the team was glad to have their mojo back after an eight-wicket win against Scotland on Friday. With the triumph, the Men in Blue kept their semi-finals hopes alive, their net run rate surpassing New Zealand and Afghanistan’s.
Kohli and company would need Afghanistan to beat New Zealand on Sunday to have a shot at a semi-finals berth. On Friday, riding on some power-hitting by openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, India chased Scotland’s 86-run target in 6.3 overs.
Virat Kohli, during the post match presentation ceremony said he doesn’t want to go overboard after the team’s second consecutive dominating victory in the T20 World Cup even though he rued the absence of a couple of “good overs” which could have possibly changed the outcomes of the games against Pakistan and New Zealand.
“It’s a dominating performance. It was something we were striving to again. I don’t want to say too much about today because we know how we can play,” said Kohli.
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“These little things in T20 cricket (toss, conditions) matter and we’re glad to be back in our mojo.” Kohli though regretted the fact they could not play their usual dominant games against Pakistan and New Zealand.
“We basically broke it down to the fact that we couldn’t get away at all in those two games, two overs could have made the difference. I’m just pleased everyone is getting into their own,” he said.
The India skipper said they wanted to restrict Scotland to “100-120 max”.
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“But we restricted them to a total that allowed us to leapfrog everyone else. We spoke about finishing in the 8-10 over bracket. You don’t want to go in with six-and-a-half or a seven-and-half run mark because then you’re doing too much. We gave that bracket and allowed them to get that momentum.” KL Rahul (50) and Rohit Sharma (30) came out all guns blazing as they scored 70 runs in first five overs to seal the deal for India.
“If you look at our practice games as well, the guys have been batting like that. Two overs of cricket like that and the momentum of the tournament could have been completely different.” Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer admitted that they were “outclassed in every department.” “But the only way we’ll improve is going through games like that and seeing it head on. Mark’s been excellent, he’s got an array of skills. Great to see him learning from other spinners here as well and that’s why these tournaments are important,” he said.