Crave for games like this: Kohli

Indian skipper Virat Kohli said his team is totally looking forward to the do-or-die encounter against South Africa, saying games like these are what cricketers crave for.

“The game has a lot to offer for both the teams and both sides will play with 120 per cent commitment and with full passion and it will be a great game to watch for all the viewers and the players. You get to test how good you are in situations like this,” said Kohli during the pre-match press conference at the Oval on Saturday.

“As a cricketer, honestly for me personally, I crave for games like this. You want to be part of matches that are as important as this one and then if you perform in that and your team gets across the line, it's a different feeling. It improves you as a cricketer. Everyone looks forward to games like these and everyone is very excited.”

Kohli, who has orchestrated many Indian wins, said the key in such matches is to stay calm. “I think you need to have a good balance of being competitive, being passionate about the game but at the same time not get overexcited. I think the team that treats the game as normal as possible is the team that's in a better position to get the right result. A lot of times, teams come in and they want to do something special and end up messing up the game in important situations.

“The team that can have the most composure, I would say will have a better chance of winning the game tomorrow. That's what I've experienced in the past and you tend to get overexcited and then you commit errors that can cost the team important runs. Or if you fail to grab all the chances because you're overexcited and that can cost the team as well. I think composure will be the biggest word for tomorrow.”

When asked if he would play ace off-spinner R Ashwin for the crunch game, Kohli chose to keep his cards close to his chest. “There are all kind of possibilities. We definitely have looked at the last game and where we can make a bit of change. We've already discussed those things, and yeah, I'm not going to reveal anything now, but everything is possible. You can have any sort of combination possible for us starting tomorrow.”