“When I left captaincy I got message only from Dhoni”: Virat Kohli in post match conference after loss against Pakistan in Asia Cup
Virat Kohli has been in a red-hot form of late. He smashed two consecutive fifties in the ongoing Asia Cup. The first one was against Hong Kong in the league stage. While the second one came in a losing cause against Pakistan.
With this score, he also retained the record of most individual half centuries in T20Is. He overtook his compatriot Rohit Sharma who has scored 31 fifties. Kohli has 32 fifties to his name now.
It was an important inning, of 60 runs from 44 balls, in the context of the game. With wickets tumbling from one end, Kohli held the other and almost batted through the inning before getting dismissed in the final over.
India lost the match in the last over as Pakistan chased the total with a nail-biting finish.
Virat Kohli on lack of support post his stepping down from test captaincy
Later in the day, Kohli addressed a post-match presentation in which he shed light on his stepping down from captaincy. Talking about that phase of his life, Kohli said, “One thing I can tell you is when I gave up Test captaincy, I got a message from only one person who I’ve played with before – MS Dhoni… A lot of people have my number and a lot of people give suggestions on TV, but among people who have my number, I didn’t get a message from anyone else.”
“I’ve played for 14 years, it doesn’t happen by chance. My job is to work hard on my game, something that I am always keen to do for the team and something that I continue to do. Everyone’s doing their job eventually, our job is to play the game, work hard, give our 120% and I’ve said it in the past that as long as I am doing that and the team has faith in that, what happens in the change room is the only thing that matters to us, and to me personally,” he added.
Further talking about his return to his team Kohli told the press that he “was able to find that excitement back. And when I came here, the environment was very welcoming, the camaraderie with the boys is amazing, the environment in the team is amazing. I am absolutely loving playing at the moment again and I am feeling good with the way I am batting.”
Kohli’s stepping down from the captaincy was a huge blow to Indian supporters. He definitely was the ideal captain for the new generation of Indian cricket. And many people admired the way he went about business over the past few years.
Under his captaincy, India achieved incredible feats, especially in the longest format of the game. It was a shame to see one of the best of the games endure through such a torrid time.
However, the fans can hope to see the vintage Kohli back in the next few games. And India winning the upcoming world cup in Australia will be the cherry on the icing on the cake everyone wants.
