Virat Kohli hails MS Dhoni & Dinesh Karthik: The Indian captain was wax lyrical about the wicket-keeper duo sealing the chase for India.
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During the second ODI of the ongoing India’s tour of Australia at Adelaide, India defeated Australia by six wickets to save the series. With the series level at 1-1, it calls for a riveting knockout encounter at Melbourne on Friday.
After India captain Virat Kohli scored his 39th ODI century, the onus was on the wicket-keeper batsman-duo of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik to seal victory for the team. While Dhoni scored his 69th ODI half-century, Karthik remained unbeaten on 25 (14) as the pair stitched a 57-run partnership for the fifth wicket to win the match.
Speaking during the presentation ceremony, Kohli was vocal about how his bowlers, chiefly Bhuvneshwar Kumar, restricted the opposition batsmen in the slog overs. “We wanted to try and restrict them in the end. I thought they were going to get away from us when Maxy [Glenn Maxwell] and Shaun [Marsh] were in. Getting them in two balls was brilliant.
“I thought 298 was par on that wicket, with the start they had. Bhuvi was outstanding to pull things back for us. Vijay Shankar is in the squad, he’s an allrounder, so that gives us an option to play around with – but we’ll see how we go. But backing five bowlers and seeing it come off is pleasing as a captain,” Kohli was quoted as saying.
Batting for most part of the Indian innings, Kohli steered the innings, stitching crucial partnerships with Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni. Explaining insights about his own innings, Kohli laid emphasis on looking for ‘little moments’.
“You look for little moments to pump you up, get into the zone, and that’s what I was trying to do. I tried to stay as aware as possible in recognising the moment to strike. I thought those 2-3 overs were the moment, to bring the gap between runs and balls down. When it comes off it looks good,” Kohli said.
Hailing the efforts of Dhoni and Karthik, the Indian captain threw accolades at them saying that it was an ‘MS classic’. “There is no doubt that he shouldn’t be a part of this team. Tonight was an MS classic. He takes the game till the end, when only he knows what’s going on in his mind, and he backs himself to hit those big shots at the end. And hats off to Dinesh too, he came in and took the pressure off him,” Kohli added.
Given the hot conditions at Adelaide today, it was difficult for the Indian players for they had fielded first. Towards the business end of the match, Dhoni was seen lying down on the ground in a bid to recover. Talking about the conditions, Kohli said that it was a ‘tough’ day.
“It was a really tough day. My pants are white with the sweat, the salts coming out. MS was tired as well, fielding for 50 overs and batting as well, it was tough. So a good day to rest and travel and recover and regroup for the MCG,” he concluded.
