Virat Kohli satisfied with a ‘complete day’

The Indian captain was determined to make it count with the bat at Kingston.

Virat Kohli was delighted with the “complete package” of an innings on Thursday.

Virat Kohli was relieved to respond well to the jolt suffered during the fourth One-Day International against West Indies with a match-winning century in the final match of the five-match series. India’s victory sealed the series 3-1, with the one loss at North Sound an inexplicable aberration; India’s captain was determined to make it count with the bat in the subsequent game. Kohli’s unbeaten 111 was scripted on the back of a forgettable knock of 3.

“Yeah, I don’t like to get out in similar fashion more often. The reason you succeed at international level is [that] you have to spread a gap between your mistakes, and a couple of mistakes from me getting out in the same manner (off short deliveries) was something that I don’t really like. So, it was more of being a little strict on the self, and then getting the team across the line. I knew the victory was inevitable when I got the hundred. [The celebration] was all about the satisfaction of actually planning the innings out, sticking to my plans and executing it well,” Kohli told reporters after the series-clinching win at Kingston.

Report: Kohli leads India to series win

Kohli revealed that his intent was not to allow for too many dot balls to accumulate.

“When you’re not too happy with how you’re getting out, and then you end up convincingly scoring a century and remaining not-out, getting the team across the line, it’s the complete package for a batsman. You can’t have a more ideal scenario. When you have a chance-less knock as well, you haven’t given any half-chance either, so from that point of view, I felt it was a complete day from a personal point of view, and for the team as well,” Kohli said.

‘No issues’

The series would have been India’s at North Sound four days earlier had India surmounted a middling West Indian total of 189. Dhoni’s painstakingly slow knock of 54 failed to get India over the line, but Kohli said he had “no issues” with the innings Dhoni played. “I think it was only in the last game where he couldn’t rotate strike. Before that, he got a brilliant [78 not out]. In the Champions Trophy as well, against Sri Lanka he played a brilliant knock. First game as well he played a brilliant knock [in the Caribbean] when it wasn’t rained out and we won the game. He’s striking the ball beautifully. I think we get too impatient with one game or one knock; that can happen to anyone.”

 

Kohli looked forward to finishing the tour on a high, with a win in the one-off Twenty20 game on Sunday. “We look to play convincing cricket every game that we play. We have that ability in our team and we want to live up to our ability rather than proving a point to anyone or trying to outdo the opposition. We would like to stick to our strengths and execute those skills. If it comes off then it feels nice, because we feel we have the ability in the team to play good cricket consistently. Especially in the shorter format, we have been a very consistent side, and for sure we would like to take the momentum to Sunday as well.”