It was a near-perfect Test for the Indians, who registered a massive victory to go 1-0 up against England and Kohli didn't just play the situation out, he set up some of his own too with the pace with which he batted
Virat Kohli (right) and Cheteshwar Pujara celebrate a wicket in Vizag yesterday
Virat Kohli (right) and Cheteshwar Pujara celebrate a wicket in Vizag yesterday
Visakhapatnam: It was a near-perfect Test for the Indians, who yesterday registered a massive 246-run victory here to go 1-0 up against England in the five-Test series. The hosts had battled to a draw in the opener at Rajkot and here they came up with a total team effort to conquer a fighting England.
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The batsmen, save for the openers, scored runs, the tail contributed in both innings, the spinners, all three who played, were fantastic right through, the two fast bowlers provided the crucial breakthroughs and the all-rounders came through. Wait, there was more, for the best part was that the captain led from the front with two high quality innings.
"It's a difficult thing to detach yourself from being captain when you go out there to bat especially when you are playing five batters. The responsibility obviously increases much more," said Virat Kohli. He then explained how he did what he did. "The whole plan is actually go out there and see what's happening, understand the bowlers and not necessarily have your plans of attacking bowlers but to understand how the situation is playing out."
Spicing up the contest
Kohli didn't just play the situation out, he set up some of his own too with the pace with which he batted. "Intent is key," said Kohli. "It is only if you have intent that you will be able to play the ball accordingly because you are looking to play with the bat.
"If you don't have intent, and you are looking to control the ball, and if it does something, then you are in no position to control it. If you are looking for runs, you defend well because your head is on the ball as well. So that was the idea, to get runs as the pitch gets tougher to bat on," he further explained.
He called himself an instinctive player but revealed that he never went out to the middle thinking of runs as such. "I never think of runs as a goal. Obviously, I want to score but I don't think of these many runs in a session or something like that. So spending time (in the middle) is something that I aim for in Test cricket," he said.
Captaincy, no burden
He did admit that captaincy can weigh one down but said he's fine as of now. "To keep a check on each and every thing and then to concentrate on your batting, it does take a toll on you, but right now I am pretty fine. "Maybe in three four years' time I can analyse how much load I am feeling but at the moment it's coming along nicely so I am pretty okay with it," said Kohli.
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