XtraTime Web Desk: Virat Kohli, the ‘milestone man becomes the first Indian Captain to score four consecutive fifties in a world cup as India comprehensively beats West Indies at Manchester on Thursday. The Player of The Match again lauds MS Dhoni who received so much criticism after his slow batting against minnows Afghanistan the other day. On Thursday, Dhoni played a superb knock of 56* to guide India to a decent total of 268/7 in 50 overs.
Kohli, who scored a fine 72, told in the post match presentation, “Dhoni knows exactly what he wants to do in the middle. When he has an off day here and there, everyone starts talking. We always back him. He has won us so many games. The best thing about having someone like him is when you need those 15-20 runs, he knows exactly how to get them. His experience, 8 out of 10 times has come good for us.”
On the flip side, the Captain added, “I can’t complain, we just became no.1 yesterday as far as rankings are concerned, to be honest, we are playing that way for a while, need to continue that way.”
Though the skipper confessed, “Things haven’t gone our way with the bat in the last two games, but we have still done well to win, that’s being the most pleasing thing. Happy with my own contribution as well. We were in a similar situation today (150 odd for 4), but getting to 270 was crucial. Last game, we didn’t calculate well, we lost two quick wickets, but today we improved, Hardik played really well and MS finished strongly. When those two play in that way, we always get to a good total.”
Kohli mentioned it was not easy to chase the target they posted as he said, “To get to 270 was good, that put pressure on their batting and was very difficult to chase.”
On his own batting, Kohli seemed to be satisfied with the run-flow, as he said, “I don’t need to tell anything to my batsmen, they have to adjust according to their strengths and weaknesses and play according to the pitch. That’s my game plan, I look to play in my own way, happy to take the ones and twos which I think is a big factor in ODI cricket, around 70% of my runs come in this way. Two difficult pitches, I’m happy with my contribution and look forward to doing more of the same in the future.”