Virat Kohli made an honest admission during the interaction with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, about his struggle towards the start of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, in the West Indies and the United States of America. The batter wasn’t at his best at the beginning of the competition, before showing his class during the final of the tournament.
In the first seven innings, consisting of the group stage and the ‘super eight’ round of the tournament, Virat Kohli had managed only 75 runs in seven innings, at an average of under 11 and a strike rate of exactly 100, as he wasn’t getting support from the new template that the team was following in the event.
But when the moment came, under pressure to rescue the team, Kohli stood tall and put his head down to follow what he does best. At Kensington Oval, in Barbados, against South Africa, the ‘blue brigade’ found themselves three down inside the powerplay. The Delhi-born at that time focused mainly on the singles and double, even after getting a good start with the bat, to notch up his slowest fifty of the competition.
‘I was only focused on what’s important for the team’- Virat Kohli
During the interaction with India’s Prime Minister, Virat Kohli spoke about how his ego got the better of him towards the start and made him struggle for the event.
‘Thank you very much for calling us all here and this day will always remain in my mind because in this entire tournament, I was not able to make the contribution that I wanted to and at one time I also told Rahul bhai that I have not given justice to both myself and the team till now.’ Virat Kohli opened up about the poor times in the event.
Once he was set in the crease, he nailed a few big shots, but under his presence, India were quite calm in the process, and never looked hurriedly, as the other batters- Axar Patel and Shivam Dube were able to play their natural shots.
‘So he told me that when the situation comes, I am sure that you will come into form.’ The 35-year-old Virat Kohli expressed during the meeting. ‘So this conversation happened between us and when we went to play, I told Rohit, I did not have that much confidence that I would be able to bat the way I wanted to.’
He nailed a few boundaries at the start, but once the situation occurred of him being steady and not making a single mistake from the position when India lost those three wickets inside the powerplay, Kohli was right on the money.
‘So when we went to play, I got 3 fours in the first 4 balls, so I went and told him, what kind of a game is this, one day it seems that not even a single run will be scored and then another day comes and everything starts happening.’ The veteran India batter Virat Kohli remarked about the situation in the final.
The ‘Player of the Match’ award winner in the final, for scoring 76 in 59 balls, revealed how his ego took over at one point, and he was required to put it away for the benefit of the team.
‘I realized when you feel you can do anything, your ego takes over and the game pulls away from you. I had to keep my ego aside.’ Virat Kohli concluded the interaction. ‘The situation was such that I had to keep my pride aside for the team. When you respect the game, it respects you. So that’s what I experienced.’
He ends the tournament on a high, taking retirement from the format, which offers the young generation a chance to take Indian cricket ahead.