The Background:
India’s batting stalwart Virat Kohli is one of the best if not the best chaser in the history of the game. His 86-ball unbeaten 133 to help India chase down 321 in under 40 overs against Sri Lanka in CB Series and the 183-run knock against Pakistan in the Asia Cup have become a part of the cricketing folklore.
But those two innings were just the start of his legacy, as one of the master chasers of the game and the last few years have witnessed some truly unbelievable knocks from the India skipper.
The Story:
His stunning exploits while batting second has left one and all mesmerised and the 28-year-old has shed some light on his game-plan when he comes out to chase and also revealed why he does not always fancy batting second anymore.
‘Adapting Is The Key’
With the Indian openers in excellent form at the moment, Kohli has been forced to play aggressively from the very beginning instead of his usual style of building the innings before going for the big shots. But the right-handed batsman has done a brilliant job so far and feels that getting adapted to the situation is the key.
“You have to adapt to different situations as a batsman. You won’t always have the time or the number of overs to build your innings and make a big hundred. When the openers are batting well you have to go out there and assess the conditions, and sometimes you will end up scoring 60 off 60 balls, but sometimes you will end up scoring 30 off 30 balls and you have to go after that,” Kohli explained ahead of the third ODI against West Indies.
‘Not Only About Batting Second’
Kohli might have enjoyed huge success while batting second but India’s batting mainstay does not always fancy batting in the later half of the innings. The Delhi-born star said that the experience has taught him to play according to the situation.
“That is something that I have learnt over the years as a batsman and it’s something that I have kept working on, on my game, and now it’s about whatever situation comes in front of you, you react accordingly and you try and tackle the situation according to that. For me it’s not only about batting second anymore, I used to prefer doing that initially in my career. It just gave me a different kick I guess. Now it’s up to understanding the situation and reacting according to it and what the team requires at that point of time,” he revealed.
India meanwhile, is leading the five-match series 1-0 and would look to take an unassailable lead when they come to play the third match on Friday (June 30). The first ODI was washed out.
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(India’s predicted XI for the 3rd ODI against West Indies)