Kohli lauds bowling effort

Jadhav's spell was the difference, says skipper

Indian skipper Virat Kohli lavished praise on his bowlers for restricting Bangladesh to a below-par score that laid the foundation for an emphatic nine-wicket victory in the semifinals of the Champions Trophy.

“Wickets are important throughout the innings. If you don't take wickets, then it's difficult to contain the scoring. Kedar’s (Jadhav) spell was probably the difference in the game for us when we were bowling and he got us those breakthroughs and then we were able to build on it,” said a delighted Kohli at the post-match press conference on Thursday.

“I think the wicket was easily 300, 310 par wicket, and to restrict them to 260 on that sort of wicket (was good). They never got away from us and that is a good thing about our bowling.

“It wasn't like they were going eight, nine an over and we had to pull back. We never let them get to six an over, as well. So I think from that point of view, it was very clinical by the bowlers, especially looking at how flat the wicket was, I think they adapted really well.”

Business as usual

Kohli refrained from dwelling too much on Pakistan, India's opponents in Sunday’s final, but said they’ll just go about their business as usual.

“Obviously if you reach the final you have to play some good cricket, and credit to them, they've turned around things for themselves really well.

“They've beaten sides that looked really strong against them. Regardless of who you play in the final, it's always going to be challenging because once you start thinking that it's a big game, then your mindset changes.

“What we are going to try to do is repeat the similar sort of cricket that we have played so far, knowing the strengths and weaknesses they have.

“Obviously we'll have to plan a bit according to that, but I don't know there's much that we need to change as a team.”