T20 WC: Return Of Ashwin Is The Biggest Positive, Says Virat Kohli
Mumbai: Indian skipper Virat Kohli said the return of Ravichandran Ashwin to the team was a big positive as the team regained control in the middle overs against Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Indian openers batted brilliantly as the Men in Blue beat Afghanistan by 66 runs in a Group 2 match of the Super 12 stage of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Veteran Indian spinner Ashwin scalped the wickets of Gulbadin Naib and Najibullah Zadran and gave just 14 runs in his entire spell.
” Much better wicket to be fair. We talked about the fact that in other games if we have just two overs of free-flowing batting, it sends a message to the opposition that we’re going to put you under the pump. When we do that, we know how we can play. Sometimes, you do fall under pressure and have to accept that. T20 cricket is a very instinctive game, in batting, bowling and decision-making. We do make decisions on the go,” said Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation.
The Men in Blue illuminated Abu Dhabi with a stellar performance of power-hitting to post 210/2 as Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul played in 74 and 69 respectively. And in reply, Afghanistan never looked to chase it down, finishing on 144/7, still 66 runs short.
“The top three are mostly settled until the situation today when the openers batted perfectly and the power-hitters were ready. We don’t always decide early to go hard, but we do back ourselves and when we do get going, we know what we can do.”
“Well, yes that is the plan (to keep playing this way) but as I said, sometimes you just give in to the pressure. The other teams bowled really well to us. Yes, it (net run rate) was, to be honest. We are always positive, and so we’re thinking about it,” the Indian skipper explained.
Mohammed Shami took three wickets while Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja return with a piece for India.
“The return of Ash (is the biggest positive), we saw him doing well in the IPL and when he does this, we get to control in the middle overs. That’s what I’m most pleased about (today),” he added.
India will next clash with Scotland on Friday while Afghanistan will square off New Zealand on Sunday
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