Out of the 280 games I've played, I think for 200 of them I have batted down: MS Dhoni

Another day, another Kohli masterpiece, another India win! It almost has become routine stuff now, as India grab a spectacular win against New Zealand as they go 2-1 up in the series, in a match that they won convincingly enough after losing the plot to the Kiwis at Kotla.

India seemed to be in full control of the match, except for a brief period when New Zealand staged a fight back into the match with their tail-enders battling it out after a batting collapse from the top order. But once Kohli and Dhoni settled in, it never really looked as if India could lose the match, where the captain and vice-captain paced the innings at will never letting the run rate go too high.

Manish Pandey, who came after Dhoni fell 20 runs short of his century and guided India to win partnering Kohli, with a 97-run partnership with Kohli, where he had not much to do except just not throwing away his wicket. He congratulated Kohli for his spectacular innings, saying it was a joy to watch and learn from him. Pandey went on to state, “Definitely, it was a good partnership [talking about his 97-run partnership with Kohli]. Especially, want to congratulate Virat. We had like 80 odd runs to get when I came to bat so I had my plan clear that I will try and stay till the end. Yeah, you learn by watching the game from outside. It was not coming on, so I thought I had my time to go back and pull it straight [talking about his straight pull early in his innings]. He [Kohli] is somebody who was anchoring the game today. That is his job, whenever he is set, he tries to finish the game.”

Kane Williamson, the New Zealand captain, hailed Jimmy Neesham’s innings, saying it was frustrating to lose wickets in that manner. He also congratulated Kohli and Dhoni on their superb partnership, one that took the match away from them completely after New Zealand started well getting two early wickets. Williamson stated, “Frustrating to lose those wickets in the middle. Were probably looking for more at this stage. Neesham batting there at the end was a great effort. It’s not always an easy chase, but MS and Virat played superbly. If you took early wickets, it makes it look like a good total. We did that but then those two came out, put on 150 and took the game away. Boys tried hard but it wasn’t to be. It’s part of the game, you want to catch them all but it doesn’t always happen.”

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Indian captain Dhoni, who had an awesome day at office, first pulling off two spectacular stumpings, that took the social media by storm and then playing a gem of an innings to score 80 off 91 deliveries, congratulated his bowlers, especially Kedar Jadhav, Suresh Raina’s replacement for getting the wickets in quick intervals to keep the target to a feasible one. Then he went on to talk about his batting order and that he had batted lower the order for most of his career, thus not getting time enough out in the middle. Also mentioning his partnership with Kohli, he went on to say it was easy to play with him as both can pull out boundaries at will, keeping the scoreboard ticking and never letting the run rate go too high.

MS Dhoni said, “We could have done better in the last game. But it’s important to have no hangover. We kept getting wickets in the middle to restrict them. Overall they have done well, the surprise package has been Kedar. I feel if you can get wickets in the middle you can restrict opposition. We need to improve in those last 5-7 overs. I have no clue how he gets wickets, that’s the reality of it. Important that someone in the top 5-6 gives you some overs so that there’s no pressure on Hardik to complete his 10. Have batted lower down for a long time. Out of the 280 games I’ve played, I think for 200 of them I have batted down. So the decision was to go up and then express myself. It’s important for me at this stage of my career. That’s what my thinking was – to go out and express myself. Batting with Virat helps; the reason being that both of us can hit boundaries and push for those singles and doubles. Right from the start, he’s somebody who always wanted to improve and win games for India. He’s someone who has learnt a lot. He knows his strength well and executes his plan. If he can bat the way he’s batting, each and every individual will be happy. He’s not only made the fans proud, but also the family. That’s what you look to do.”

Man of the Match Virat Kohli, who is having one hell of a year, where runs seem to be coming out at will and in plenty out of his blade, winning matches for his team single-handedly. He went on to mention that he had a bit of luck, with a dropped catch by Ross Taylor early in his innings, a drop that proved to be costly for the Kiwis, as Kohli went on to score 154* off 134 deliveries, taking away the match completely from the New Zealand. He intimated of a similar feeling as he dropped a catch off Brendon McCullum and he went on to score 300. He also said that it was good to have Dhoni at four and the two partnerships with Dhoni and Manish Pandey paved the way for the win. He was also of the opinion that the pitch wasn’t all that flat and was holding up a bit, and strokeplay was not easy. It was important to keep patience and play it out.

“Bit of luck went my way. Feel sorry for Ross; never easy to drop a catch and then the batsman bats right through. I’ve felt that thing in Wellington when Brendon scored 300. It was a really good game for us. Probably gave away 30-40 too many. We know we can be a good chasing team. It was great to have MS at four. We could build a partnership and we scored 150 and then Manish also held his own and gave me the confidence. For a guy to come in that situation, he backed himself. The way he hit those 2-3 boundaries, it gave me the assurance. Those two partnerships sealed the game for us. The wicket wasn’t all that flat. Some deliveries were holding up. In the past, I’ve tried to play out of my skin and probably got overexcited but then understood that if I time the ball well enough and work the gaps, I can get more purchase out of my strokes. A batsman can keep things simple and be a good batsman and be consistent as well. Happy for now. Me and MS had a chat, he took on the spinner because he has the strength that even mistimed shots can clear the fence whereas I need to hit the middle of the bat to send them over. I understand that teams are looking to get me out, I take my time, build the momentum. I give myself the chance to go out and finish the game when the opposition is tired. For that you need to play percentage cricket,” Kohli went on to say after his match-winning performance.