I Knew This Is The Game But Maybe That Was My Ego Talking From Some Space: Virat Kohli On India’s Exit From World Cup Semi’s
Mumbai: The exit from Semi-Finals of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 was a heartbreaking moment for every Indian fan. And Virat Kohli’s passion and hunger to win every game of cricket are written large on his face every time he walks on the field. Be it for India or Royal Challengers Bangalore or Delhi, Kohli just hates to lose.
Therefore, it becomes really difficult for a passionate player like him to deal with defeats as it happened in the 50-over World Cup in England earlier this year.
India had a complete dominating tournament as except England and New Zealand India defeated every other team. And India experts were saying India could certainly win the tournament. But and 18 run loss to New Zealand flattered India’s dream to win the tournament.
“It is not easy. If you ask me, do I get affected by failure? Yes, I do. Everyone does. I am human at the end of the day. It is difficult to process failure at such a big stage. But also you have to understand that I totally believe in the fact that what’s meant for you will happen,” said Virat Kohli.
“Success and failure is part of everything that we do in life, whether it is sport or daily life, it is the truth of life and you need to be able to accept both with grace. That’s the thing I have learnt. You can’t say I am the king of the world when you succeed or we are invincible now and when you fail you beat yourself down so much that you can’t wake up again,” Kohli told Boria Majumdar on the inaugural episode of India Today Inspiration.
“Failure is a great way to analyse what went wrong and to improve on those. Cricket is all about that. Life is all about that. Making mistake on a regular basis and having the courage and clarity to say Ok, I have made a mistake. I am not gonna be egoistic about it. I am gonna lay it down…. improve on it and walk forward,” he added.
India was bowled out for 221, chasing a modest target of 240 with Kohli getting out lbw to Trent Boult for 1. In fact, the top-three of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Kohli managed just 3 runs before the middle-order batsmen – Rishabh Pant (32), MS Dhoni (50) and Ravindra Jadeja (77) – brought India back in the game but it was still not enough as the two-time champions got bowled out in 49.3 overs.
Talking about his dismissal in the semi-final, Kohli said: “Honestly when we went to World Cup I had this very strong feeling in my heart that I know that the team would need me in some game and it would be a chase and I swear I had this feeling so strong in my heart that I am going to come not out at the end of the game and make India go through that rough phase.
“And I really felt strong in my heart that you know that was the game (semi-final vs New Zealand) when I walked out to bat, I knew this is the game but maybe that was my ego talking from some space because how can you predict something like that.
He concluded by saying, “You can only have a strong feeling or maybe it was a strong desire to do something like that. But it did not turn out that way. My dismissal, obviously it was hurtful for me.”
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