Virat Kohli celebrates KL Rahul’s century in the first T20I against England. (Reuters)
India’s tour to England started on a positive note with the Virat Kohli-led side scripting an easy 8-wicket win over the hosts. Chasing a total of 160, India managed to reach the total with 10 balls to spare, losing only Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma on the way, with KL Rahul, who came in to bat at No. 3, scoring a century. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli explained the reasons behind him dropping down to the no. 4 batting position.
“We haven’t changed a lot, I usually bat at three and have dropped to four, but this allows me to control the innings in the middle-overs. It gives someone like KL the freedom to go after in the powerplay. We want our cricketers to be fearless, enjoy themselves just like what Kuldeep and he did today. We don’t want that mindset to change and want to provide a cushion behind them to go after. It may not work out well every time but we need to stick to it. We dropped Jos and we know how dangerous he can be. It was a moment where I felt we needed to hold on to everything and I got the opportunity to convert,” he said.
He further added: We are shuffling around keeping the World Cup in mind and that’s why KL went in at three and I went in at four. Umesh was superb with the new ball as well. Kuldeep is a wrist spinner, he’s going to be lethal with any help from the pitch. It was his one over that turned it for us beacuse England were taking it away before that. He’s very difficult to pick and his wrong ‘un hasn’t been easy and I hope he can keep working on it.
The 29-year old further went on to add that he feels the need to constantly do something on the field. “I can’t be someone who’s standing on the field doing nothing, I need to be pumped up when I am playing for the country and sometimes that boils over, but it’s not that I always go bonkers. Luckily that passion has carried on for a while,” the right-hand batsman said.
Kohli further praised Rahul on his innings: :Rahul has come a long way; especially the way he’s been batting since the IPL and in that one game in Ireland – so clean and crisp. We want guys like him to step up. We don’t want to be one-dimensional, we want people going up and down the order. He’s got a great technique, great temperament and is very hungry and today he was a bit emotional because the last century he scored was against England in Chennai and it’s been that long he’s been waiting for. It was a great century and a great sign for Indian cricket,” he said.