Raina and I decided to break it into two T20 games: Virat Kohli on how he mastered the art of chasing
May 30, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 30 : Reliving his 'special knock' of 133 runs from just 86 balls, Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday revealed that he and Suresh Raina had decided to chase the target of 321 runs in 40 overs against Sri Lanka by breaking it into two T20 games.
In the 11th match of the Commonwealth Bank Series at Hobart, Sri Lanka had posted 320 runs on the back of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara hundreds.
India needed to chase down the target in 40 overs in order to stay alive in the series.
Chasing 321, India had a wonderful start as Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar stitched a 54 run stand in just 38 balls. However, it was Kohli's innings of 133 runs along with Raina's valiant knock that took India over the line.
The right-handed Kohli smashed Lasith Malinga for 24 runs in the 35th over.
Kohli was on an Instagram live session with Indian bowler Ravichandran Ashwin when he was asked about his gutsy knock.
"When we were warming up, the chat was not that all optimistic I still remember because our chances were very bleak, we did not have a successful Australia tour and the motivation factor was very low. The bonus point was something which we weren't even thinking about it," recalled Kohli.
"It was strange and suddenly out of nowhere we got that boost, Sachin paaji and Viru bhai had a brilliant partnership at the front, Gauti (Gautam Gambhir) bhai and me had a good partnership. Then Raina came and changed the momentum of the game and then he and I discussed that we need to break it down into two T20 games and that was the first kind of revelation for chasing the big totals for me," he added.
"I remember that whole season from that Test hundred in Adelaide to the ODI matches, that was the season where I realised many things about my game, you want to be that guy who wants to be feared. This led to the innings that you were talking about and yes it was quite special," Kohli further stated.
The Indian skipper has an impeccable record while chasing targets for his team. He has scored more ODI centuries when India is chasing in a match and he enjoys an outstanding average during run-chases.
Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.
