India began their title defence in England in style, crushing arch-rivals Pakistan by 124 runs in Birmingham. However, their campaign came under the threat of an early conclusion when Sri Lanka hammered them by 7 wickets as the Men in Blue found themselves in a tight spot, needing to win their final group game against South Africa at any cost to advance to the semifinal.
But the defending champions responded in style by thrashing the Proteas by 8 wickets in the must-win game on Sunday (June 11). And India skipper Virat Kohli has revealed what prompted his team to turn their fortunes around against the world number one ODI side after the shocking loss against Sri Lanka. Speaking after the game, the 28-year old said he did not hesitate in giving his teammates a piece of his mind after the Sri Lanka game.
“You have to be honest. You have to sometimes say things that hurt. That’s what I believe in,” he said.
“You have to lay it out in front of them that this is what we did wrong, including me, and we need to take it on the chin and accept it and prove it.That’s why we are chosen among millions of people to play at this level. You have to be good enough to do that for the country and you have to be good enough to bounce back, as well,” he added.
The Indian players seem to have been motivated by their captain’s pep talk as they put up a clinical performance against South Africa to storm into the semi-final. After the bowlers bowled the Proteas out for a paltry 191, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli hit half-centuries to take India home with utmost ease.
Kohli further lauded the total team performance.
“You can’t do the same mistakes over and over again. That sort of mindset is really helping all of us to come together as a unit and make things happen. It’s not about asking two, three players to do it. We are asking everyone to do it and everyone is responding really well,” he said.
“Until you have a team effort, you cannot win games, especially in conditions that you are not familiar with. Today was a team performance,” said the 28-year old.
With India and Bangladesh already in the semifinal along with hosts England and one of Sri Lanka and Pakistan set to become the last semifinalists, it has been a pretty good tournament for the Asian teams.
When asked about it, Kohli said:
“Maybe because of how much limited-overs cricket we play, I think the players are getting more experienced in difficult situations. Maybe some of the teams have really surprised the opposition with the way they have batted and bowled in certain situations.”