Virat Kohli has said that he is proud of the fact that he was named the best player of World T20 for the second consecutive edition.
Much of India's fortunes in the World T20 2016 depended upon one man, Virat Kohli. The stylish number 3 did not disappoint and played out of his skins to almost single-handedly take India to the semi-finals.
With three half-centuries in five games, Kohli showed up on all big occasions whenever India were in trouble in the tournament. He finished with a total of 273 runs at an average of 136.50 and a strike-rate of 146.77.
The 27-year-old was in superhuman form in the tournament with two consecutive knocks of 82 and 89 coming against Australia and the West Indies in crunch matches. Quite naturally, he was the unanimous choice for the Man of the Tournament award.
The Delhi-born batsman has now said that the award has given him immense satisfaction and pride. “On a personal level, it’s a good feeling. I feel proud to achieve that twice, in two World Cups,” he said.
Kohli, who was also named man of the tournament in the last edition of the World T20, where India lost the final to Sri Lanka, said that he was disappointed as he failed to take the team through the line.
“But both times, I was disappointed that we lost the finals, and we lost in the semis this time. You want to contribute as an individual to the team – and I’ve been rewarded for that – but as a team we wanted to go further than that, and we believed we could go to the final and win this tournament."
However, Kohli appeared to have moved on from the disappointment of losing to the Windies in the semis. “As I said, in this tournament, anything can happen on any day. And you can’t guarantee anything. That was not our day, in the semis, so it’s more a case of mixed feelings," he said.
Kohli who had not come to the Eden Gardens to receive the award revealed that he thought he would not be named the player of the tournament.
"I was sitting and watching the game. I didn’t think I would get it. I thought someone who had reached the finals would get the Player of the Tournament. I ended up getting it, I felt proud about it but I felt really sad and gutted when we lost the semis. So yeah, mixed bag of feelings.”
Kohli has been in the form of his life since the T20 series against Australia earlier this year and he has continued the good work in this edition of the IPL with two half-centuries for the RCB so far.
Kohli has scored 75 and 79 off his first two innings in this edition of the IPL and should he score another half-century against MI today, he will take his tally to five consecutive T20 half-centuries equalling a world record held by Virender Sehwag and Hamilton Masakadza.
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