Virat Kohli finds pleasure in rotating strike as India qualify for Champions Trophy final

India’s talisman Virat Kohli was delighted after they registered a four-wicket win against Australia in the semifinal of the Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Tuesday. Kohli scored a match-winning knock of 84 runs off 98 balls in the run-chase of 265 against the Aussies.

India lost two early wickets of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill and Kohli was able to stitch a crucial alliance of 91 runs with Shreyas Iyer for the third wicket. Kohli struck only five fours in his innings and did what he does best in ODIs – rotate strike at regular intervals in the middle overs. The veteran as always didn’t take any risks and played at the top of his game.

Kohli was awarded the Player of the Match award in the ODI ICC tournaments for the seventh match. 

Virat Kohli said after the win, “It was pretty similar to the other day against Pakistan as well. For me, it is about understanding the conditions and preparing my game accordingly.. just rotating strike because partnerships on this pitch are the most important thing. My only effort that day and today was to string in enough partnerships. The time that I got out, the plan was to get 20 more and try and finish it off in a couple of overs. Usually that’s the template I follow but sometimes you can’t execute things how you want to. It’s all dependant on the conditions, the pitch tells me how the cricket needs to be played and then I just switch on and play accordingly.”

Kohli added that he was pleased with the way he timed the ball, as he didn’t get desperate to get his runs in the second innings.

He added, “My timing. The composure at the crease.. I wasn’t feeling desperate, I was pretty happy knocking ones around and when as a batsman you start taking pride in taking singles into the gaps, that is when you know you are playing good cricket and you know you are in for a big partnership and settle the nerves down a little bit and head towards chasing the total down. In the game against Pakistan and today that was the most pleasing factor for me.”

India will take on either New Zealand or South Africa in the final at Dubai on Sunday.