Our bowlers showed better nerves in tough situations, says Kohli

INDIA BEAT NEW ZEALAND by six-runs in a rain-curtailed match at Thiruvananthapuram, that helped them seal the series 2-1. The hosts defended the 68-run target in eight-overs by picking six-wickets.

Virat Kohli lavished praise on his bowlers for executing plans well and bowling in the right areas. As reported by Cricbuzz, the prolific batsman said,

“In the second innings, they didn’t give too many boundary balls. We wanted our best bowlers to get done early and leave so many runs in the end they would be left with a lot. They executed the plans well.”

Kohli had to choose between Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav to bowl the final over and he picked the former. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah had completed their two overs. Pandya injured himself after stopping a hard-hit shot by Colin de Grandhomme. Speaking about the incident, the Delhi-lad said,

“We had the confidence in Hardik, whose off-cutters are good. The wicket was damp tonight, so the ball was sticking to the wicket. I tried going up to him (in the final over), but after three balls he said, ‘I’ll do it, you don’t have to worry.’ As a captain, when you get that kind of confidence from your bowlers, you aren’t left with much to say. He has confidence in his abilities and he finished off the game well.”

The 29-year-old believes that the bowlers deserve more credit than what they get. He added that he is delighted with the performances of the bowling unit.

“They deserve a lot more credit than they usually get otherwise. The game has moved forward as a batsman’s game, the shorter formats. When bowlers step up in the deciding games, it makes a difference. If you see, both teams got close to their totals, but it was the better bowling side which won the game. The game has boiled down to basically be that. If the wicket is not offering much to the bowlers, the team that bowls better usually wins it. Our bowlers have shown better nerves in tough situations, better than the oppositions for a while now. That is something that makes me very proud, and they are also very pleased with their efforts and execution of plans. We are quite confident where stand as a team, and as a bowling unit they definitely deserve a lot more credit for winning these past few series that they have, than they get usually.”

Get the latest in the world of Sports, Teams, and Players! Free Delivery to your Inbox.