Virat Kohli: Dealing with pressure very important

Virat Kohli after hitting the winning runs yesterday

India’s shining star and firebrand batsman Virat Kohli has said that there was a lot of pressure in the semi final against South Africa yesterday. He also said that one is not supposed to reveal this to the opponent. Yesterday, Kohli had played a wonderful innings of 72 runs off 44 balls, which had paved the way for team India’s victory over South Africa in a very thrilling encounter at the World T20 in Bangladesh.

Kohli said: “I’m happy that I could play an important innings in the semi-final. I have been in good form. The target was to try and stay there till the end. We knew it would make our task easier. It’s important that one batsman stays there till the end in a T20 match. It wasn’t as easy as it seemed from the outside. There was pressure, but it’s always important to not let the opponent understand that you are under pressure. You can’t do that while dealing with a world-class bowling attack.”

He further added, “Everybody does the same thing, I think cricket is played more between your ears than with your technique. You have to be mentally strong. It’s about being patient, about being calm and not think what the dugout maybe thinking about your batting. It’s all about blocking those thoughts out. It’s important to back yourself. There’s no secret there.”

It is pertinent to add that Kohli has now become the highest scorer in this year’s World T20, with a total of 242 runs.