India vs West Indies: Good way to start the series, says skipper Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, on Friday, led from the front, playing his career-best knock to help India thrash West Indies by six wickets in the first T20I. The India skipper slammed 94 not out off just 50 balls as India chased down a mammoth total of 208 with eight balls remaining. Along with Kohli, KL Rahul impressed with the bat too, scoring 62.

After West Indies piled up 207 for 5, India were off to a poor start as they lost Rohit Sharma for just 8. However, Kohli and Rahul made sure to keep India on track as they added 100 runs for the second wicket. Khary Pierre ended the stand when he dismissed Rahul. But before West Indies could capitalize on that breakthrough, Kohli shifted gears and took India over the line almost singlehandedly.

After the end of the game, the delighted skipper took to Twitter to express his happiness. Kohli was happy with the way India started the series. He also wrote that there were lot of positives from the series-opener as he tweeted:

“Good way to start the series. Lots of positives to take from today’s win. 👍#INDvWI”

Virat Kohli on his knock

While Kohli played one of his best T20I knocks on Friday, it is safe to say that he was not at his fluent best at the start. It is not every day that one sees Kohli playing second fiddle. But the India skipper had to play that role to KL Rahul as he was struggling to get back to his rhythm. However, once he launched Jason Holder for a huge six in the 15th over, there was no looking back.

From that point onward, Kohli shifted gears and tore apart the West Indies bowlers. Nobody was spared as the 31-year old took the bowlers to the cleaners. By the time he finished the game with a six in the 19th over, he had already hit six fours and six sixes. Speaking after the game, Kohli too admitted that he was not at his best in the first half of his knock.

“All the young batsmen watching don’t follow the first half of my innings. That was really bad and I was trying to hit too hard (smiles). It was just about keeping up to the game because I didn’t want to put KL (Rahul) under pressure, so I tried to strike at 140 at least, but I couldn’t get going properly,” said Kohli.

“But I started to get going after that over from Jason. I analyzed what went wrong and played accordingly in the second half of my innings, ” he added.

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