‘Didn’t have to take singles, Kohli did the scoring’

Pune: Indian batsman KL Rahul has praised his team mate Virat Kohli after the ace batsman struck his first hundred in the ongoing Worldcupagainstbangladeshinpune. Kohli has been in sublime touch along with top Indian batting line-up as India registered a fourth consecutive win this World Cup.

“On Virat the less you say better about him. Hehas beennotchingthe numbersfor yearsnowthat’swhathedidittoday, hegot the opportunity and he finished the game forus. Gettingahundredisalwaysveryspecial, reallyhappyforhim. Rohithasgothundrednow, Virat hasgota hundred, sohopefully as the World Cup goes ahead, few of usgethundredandkeepwinningmatches,” Rahul said after India seven wicket win on Thurday.

Indiachasedasuccessfultotalof256and intheend, Rahulintentionallyensurednotto takesinglesaskohlineeded15runstocomplete his landmark score. He faced only few balls in later stage of the game and he revealed, “Ya, I only got couple of balls in the endsothatididn’thavetotakesinglesinthe end. And he had to do most of the scoring.”

Rahul had a successful day behind the stumps too. He took a stunner left-handed catch to depart Mehdi Miraz as India bounced back in the middle session of the game.

“Gooddayinthefieldoverall, Ididmyjob, everyone else did their job, good day for us as a fielding unit. Some really good catches, some really good fielding as well. Big tick markonthataspectof thegame,” headded.

The Indian team has a specialist wicketkeeperinformofishankishen, however, the team has continued to back and bank on Rahulfortherolebehindthestumps. Hehas fixed his position at number five and India looks stable at the moment.

Rahul explained that he has worked in his fitness and he is happy that he is able to do the job in past four games. India has batted second in all their league games, however, itstheirbowlingunitwhichhasbrought back India in dominating position during middlesessionofdaysplay. Beforetheworld Cup game, the team management has emphasised on cashing on middle-overs as game tend to get slow post 30-40 overs.

“Formiddle-ordersthechallengeistohit boundariesinthemiddleof theovers. There aremorefielderscomparetothepowerplay. There is less gap as well. In powerplay there ischanceofmoreboundariesandsinglesare much harder in first ten overs. After that we canrotatethestrikeanditspartof thegame wehaveworkedaswell. Wehaveworkedon thatbeforetheworldcupandwehavekept on mind and have trained ourselves,” he points out.

Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah have made a strong comeback after their respective injuries. They both underwent surgery and took months to recover. Rahul said he is happy to see Bumrah getting stronger.

“We are lucky to have him in our team andweareluckythatwedon’thavetobreak ourbatwithhisyorkers. Tofacehimitsvery difficult in the end, its difficult to face him, wehavefacedhimduringtheiplaswell. He is a top quality bowler, really happy that his back is fit, we spend lot of time in NCA together in recovering and getting stronger,” he recalled.

After 38 overs, Kohli was on 73 and KL Rahul on 33. The next 22 balls saw Rahul face just 1 ball as Kohli raced to his 48th ODI century. Rahul remained unbeaten on 34.

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● 3rd ball: Kohli ’s six, India win. All’s well that ends well.