Indian captain heaps praise on young pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who shook up the Indian top order
India skipper Virat Kohli said it would not have been the end of the world for him even if his team would have won instead of suffering. Heavy defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan In the T20 World Cup here on Sunday.
Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets in their opening T20 World Cup match to register their biggest T20 International win, which was also their first against neighbors in 13 attempts at a global meet.
However, when Kohli was asked if his team was over-confident and not thinking about playing Pakistan, he got the goat.
Kohli told a Pakistani journalist who asked the question, “You know it’s amazing what the reality is and what are the thoughts outside people. I just wish they could wear a cricket kit and understand what the pressure is. “
“You don’t go there to take anything lightly, especially a team like Pakistan which can beat any team in the world on its day, it is a sport that should be respected and we are a team that Don’t think winning a game is the end of the world,” the angry Indian captain said after the match.
Kohli said he accepts defeat and will learn from it but made it clear that he treats all opposition with equal respect.
“Cricket is way and above anyone else and we definitely respect the game and we never take any opposition lightly nor do we differentiate between opposition.
“That day, if we haven’t played well, we accept it and give credit to the opposition as well. We don’t create any other scenario to find out what went wrong and move on in a positive way. ” .
Before this particular question, he was asked if he thought of leaving Rohit Sharma and opting for Ishaan Kishan instead? “It’s a very brave question. What do you think, sir? I played the team I liked best.
“I am just asking you? Will you drop Rohit Sharma from T20 Internationals? You will drop Rohit Sharma? If you want controversy, please let me know first so that I can respond accordingly. Incredible…, One can detect that he was smiling but also trying to suppress his anger.
But he agreed in no uncertain terms that India were out on that day.
“They definitely overtook us. You don’t win by 10 wickets, if you don’t beat the opposition. We didn’t even get a chance. We tried to put enough pressure on them but they had the answer. There is none It’s a shame to admit that they played with us.
“Like I said, when you step into the field as 11 players from either side, you have an equal chance of winning the game but there is no guarantee of winning every match,” he said.
Shaheen Shah’s first spell praised
Kohli heaped praise on young pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who rocked the Indian top-order by taking the wickets of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and later skipper Kohli in his second spell.
“He bowled really well with the new ball and hit the right areas to take wickets. In T20 cricket, it’s all about the execution of taking wickets with the new ball and he certainly did that and credit goes to him. Is.
“He put our batsmen under pressure and ran with intensity with the new ball, showed that he bowled in consistent areas and so as a batsman, you need to be alert and that spell got us on the back-foot immediately. Brought it in. Extra 20- When you lose three wickets for 20 runs (31) then 25 runs seem very difficult.
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