India batter Virat Kohli was happy with the clarity in intent he had while batting in the second T20I against the West Indies on Friday.
Coming in at three, Kohli wasted very little time in getting busy at the crease, doing a majority of scoring in the first half of the innings. Amidst the talk of his lean patch, Kohli made 52 off 42 balls, reaching his 30th half-century in the format before being bamboozled by Roston Chase.
"I was happy that I went out with clear intent today, not thinking so much about whether I should try my shots or not and it came off. It's a nice way to start that innings for myself. When you play with responsibility over a long period of time, you tend to go into a mindset where you start thinking too much about whether you can take a risk or not and I think sometimes, you tend to forget why you got to the stage you got to and it's important to back your instincts," said Kohli in a mid-innings chat with broadcaster 'Star Sports'.
In his knock laced with seven fours and a six at a strike rate of 126.83, the positivity in Kohli's shot-selection was enough to indicate that he wanted to bat for long but was cut short by turn from Chase. "For me it's always been an opportunity to bat well under different situations for the team. Today when I went in, I decided to be positive, then we lost a few wickets. I wanted to continue in the same way, probably disappointed to get out at the time I did because I set up the game nicely for me to go hard in the last 4-5 overs which is the way I bat, which is my strength."
What also helped Kohli was the energy coming from a small number of spectators in the Eden Gardens. "Little bit of people in the stadium always helps, sometimes you need to create momentum for yourself when the environment doesn't really provide it for you, so tonight I felt good from the get-go."
With dew settling in, as shown by the TV cameras in the second half of India's innings, Kohli believed that 186 is a good score to defend for the hosts. "I think at a certain stage we thought 180 was good, some balls were stopping in between the hard lengths and the change of pace. We know they are going to go after the shots and that is going to provide us those wicket-taking opportunities."
Kohli signed off by crediting the rapid 76-run stand between Rishabh Pant and Venkatesh Iyer for propelling India to an impressive total. "Special mention to Rishabh and Venky the way they batted, gave us those extra 10 runs in the end and hats off to that partnership."
2nd T20I: Kohli, Pant, Iyer take India to impressive 186/5 against West Indies
A fluent 52 from Virat Kohli followed by a rapid 76-run partnership between Rishabh Pant (52 not out) and Venkatesh Iyer (33) helped India reach an impressive 186/5 in 20 overs against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens here on Friday.
For the West Indies, off-spinner Roston Chase was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/25 and leaving India in some trouble in the middle overs. But Pant and Iyer smoked 62 runs in the last five overs to give India a strong total to defend with dew coming into the equation.
After Akeal Hosein conceded four byes and two no-balls in a 10-run opening over, Sheldon Cottrell troubled Ishan Kishan with swing. The effort succeeded as Kishan's struggle ended with the left-handed batter trying to flick but gave a leading edge to point.
Kohli began his innings with a well-timed flick followed by a premeditated paddle off Akeal Hosein. Rohit Sharma was dropped on two by Brandon King at point and to rub salt on the wound, Sharma slammed a late cut through point off Cottrell in the same over.
Kohli and Sharma continued their boundary-hitting spree against Jason Holder in the fifth over. Kohli welcomed Holder with a crunchy drive through cover while Sharma pulled nonchalantly over mid-wicket for another boundary. Kohli then cracked back-to-back boundaries off Romario Shepherd on both sides of the 'v' while Sharma ended the power-play phase with a six mistimed over cover.
Post power-play, Sharma's innings was cut short at 19 when he tried to slog off Roston Chase but sliced to extra cover. Suryakumar Yadav got off the mark by using the pace off a ball from Hosein for a boundary past backward point. But in the next over, Yadav chipped a drive off the inner half of the bat and was snapped by Chase diving to his left.
From the other end, Kohli was taking ones and twos while cracking the occasional boundary. Kohli reached his fifty in 39 balls with a slog over long-on. He had luck on his side as Holder stationed at long-on couldn't hold on for the catch. But on the fourth ball, Kohli pushed forward for a single but was beaten by turn from Chase and was bowled through the gate.
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Pant and Iyer amassed 29 runs from 15th and 16th overs collectively to set India up for a big flourish in the last four overs. The left-handed duo ran hard for their singles while slamming some lovely shots all around the ground. Pant's one-handed whip, resembling MS Dhoni's helicopter shot, was the standout shot from the partnership where he and Iyer were the aggressors in equal measure.
The 76-run partnership off just 35 balls ended when Shepherd sent Iyer's off-stump on a walk with a full yorker. Pant then reached his fifty on the second last ball of the innings to remain unbeaten on 52.
Brief Scores: India 186/5 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 52 not out, Virat Kohli 52, Roston Chase 3/25) against West Indies
