Indian skipper Virat Kohli is happy to win a tough game against Afghanistan on last Saturday (22nd June). After facing the tough and odd challenges, the team’s character has impressed Virat Kohli very much.
The Indian national cricket team is in a superb form and one of the favourite sides to win this Cricket World Cup. However, during the India vs Afghanistan match at Southampton, Virat Kohli-led side India managed a hard-fought victory.
As their initial plans didn’t work much in that hard track, Kohli is happy on the team’s continuous fighting till the end.

In the presentation ceremony, Kohli said, “This game was way more important to be honest as I said it didn’t go as plan. But when things don’t go your way, you need to show some character and bounce back and fight till the last ball and that shows the character of the team. We take a lot of heart from this win and take the confidence going forward.”
After winning the toss, Indian captain Virat Kohli decided to bat first. Initially, he thought about the 250-270 total. However, the Afghanistan spinners dominated the Indian batsmen, and finally, India managed to score 224/8 (50 overs).
Kohli said, “I felt 270 should have been ideal and thought 250 would have been par. A team like Afghanistan who has a lot of talent doesn’t let you play the way you want to play. “
I think a lot of horizontal bat shots cost us wickets – Virat Kohli
Kohli was the highest run-scorer in that match as he scored 67 runs off 63 balls. In that Indian innings, only Kedar Jadhav was the other batsman to reach the 35-run mark as he played another crucial knock of 52 runs (68 balls).

The Indian captain feels that the Indian batsmen should have made better-shot selections in that match. He believes that a lot of cross-batted shots cost them wickets.
Kohli added, “As soon as I went in I understood the pace of this pitch, cross batted shots are not easy on this pitch and you gotta play with a straight bat. I was able to rotate strike and our shot selection could have been much better and I think a lot of horizontal bat shots cost us wickets.”
The Indian captain feels that their bowling performance was outstanding
Indian bowlers bowled very well in that low-scoring game as they bundled out Afghanistan for 213 runs (49.5 overs). Jasprit Bumrah, the Player of the Match award winner, delivered a masterpiece bowling performance. The right-arm pacer had the bowling figures of 10-1-39-2.

Praising Bumrah’s bowling performance, Kohli said, “Its simple we wanted to use him (Bumrah) smartly when the conditions allow him to. He gets a longer spell and because he can pick wickets in the spell he can get you quick wickets. He is the bowler who can do the damage at any stage of the innings and the opposition knows that as well.”
Kohli planned to utilise Bumrah in the 49th over to give Mohammed Shami enough runs to defend in the final over. The Indian captain is happy with the overall bowling performances in this match.
Kohli said, “The communication was to finish him off at 49th over so that Shami has enough runs to defend in the last over and yeah the plan worked really well today. Keeping Chahal back also worked. All in all, the bowling performance was outstanding.”
Indian pacer Mohammed Shami also bowled brilliantly in that match as he had the bowling figures of 9.5-1-40-4. In the final over of this match, when Afghanistan needed to score 16 more runs to win that match, Shami delivered a hat-trick. In the last three balls of this game, he dismissed Mohammad Nabi, Aftab Alam and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Praising Shami, Kohli added, “Everyone’s waiting for an opportunity and I think Shami was really good today and especially his first spell, he was making the ball do more than anyone else today.”
It’s an honour for everyone to represent their country in the World Cup: Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli also lauded Vijay Shankar and the other Indian cricketers.
He quoted, “Vijay Shankar has come in and he showed intent and he is fielding really well. It’s an honour for everyone to represent their country in the World Cup.”
With this victory, India has earned nine points after playing five games in this tournament. India hasn’t lost a match in this tournament, and they are very close to qualifying for the semi-finals of this tournament.
India will play their next match of this tournament against Windies at Manchester on Thursday (27th June).