I think it has to be one of India's best knocks: Rohit Sharma on Virat Kohli’s 82* vs Pakistan
India managed to walk away with an important win against Pakistan to start their T20 World Cup campaign on a high. Virat Kohli was clinical with the bat while Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya were equally brilliant in restricting Pakistan to 159.
Despite a silent outing with the bat, Rohit was impeccable with his captaincy, with a handful of significant decisions that kept the team in contention. He was elated to see India in such high spirits and was also highly appreciative of Virat Kohli’s masterclass that saw the Men in Blue seizing the contest off the last ball of the game.
Talking about Virat’s knock, Rohit said, “His best for sure. But from the situation we were in - and to come out with a victory - I think it has to be one of India's best knocks [too], not just his best. Because until the 13th over we were so behind the game, and the required rate was just climbing up and up. But to come out and chase that score was an extremely brilliant effort from Virat, and then obviously Hardik [Pandya] played a role there as well."
He also asserted that Kohli never was out of form, contrary to popular discourse. The Indian captain said, “Look, I honestly don't think he was struggling with form or anything. He was batting as good as he was. But with him, the expectation is always so high that even if he gets a good 30 or 40, people tend to talk about it.”
Rohit further added, “From the team-management perspective, I thought he was in a good space right from the Asia Cup, where he got a month off and then came back. He was fresh, got a brilliant hundred there, got a couple of fifties if I'm not wrong, and then leading up to the World Cup, we know the quality that he has, and he's done so well in these type of conditions in all three forms.”
The Indian captain also talked about the tension in the dugout and how the pitch behaved initially. Rohit said, “You've got to sometimes understand what the pitch is doing as well. That back of length, slightly back of length, slightly full, was not easy to hit, and what happened in today's game will tell you that. A lot of the guys got wickets bowling that back of a length because there was a little bit of grass on the pitch and a bit of weather - quite nippy - as well.”
He concluded by talking about the Indian bowlers and the kind of line and length that did the trick for the Indians, stating, “So we knew if you keep hitting that length, it's going to be challenging, and that is something that we kept constantly putting in the bowlers' ears, that challenge them: if they hit you a couple of sixes from there, it's fine. Actually, we got rewarded bowling that length.”