JOIN USAfter taking India into World T20 final with an unbeaten 72, Virat Kolhi said the knock against South Africa was his best in T20s given the importance of the match.
Riding on the Delhi batsman’s innings, India replied with 176/4 in 19.1 overs, chasing South Africa’s 172 for four here on Friday. “Difficult to rate,” he said when asked if this was his best T20 knock ever.
“Depending on the importance of the match, yes you can say it is my best T20 innings. But I have struck the ball better in T20s in other games. I have also timed the ball better than I did today and have managed to score five or six boundaries very fast. Today, it was difficult as I had to work hard for the knock. But as per the importance of the game, this knock tops them all,” he reasoned.
Kohli has been in good form through the tournament and the right-hander said it was important for him to continue his good run. “I wanted to play an important knock when the team had entered the semis,” he pointed out. “I was in good form, so I though it is better that I stay till the end. In T20, it is very important that a batsman stays till the end. It’s not like there was no pressure. It wasn’t easy. Pressure was there. But it is important that you don’t show it to the opponents,” he offered while adding that the dressing room remained pretty relaxed after the South African innings.
South African skipper Francois du Plessis, who made a fine fifty himself, was disappointed with his bowlers sending too many wides.
“If you’re looking to win a World Cup, it’s really important that you do the small things right and that’s definitely one of the things tonight that, not a match-changer, put us on the back foot. Nine extra balls -- not just the extra run but you have to consider the amount of runs that they score from that extra ball,” said the right-hander.