Colombo: Given quite a few anxious moments by minnows Afghanistan in their World Twenty20 opener here, India’s in-form batsman Virat Kohli conceded that his side’s bowling at the death overs is a “worrying factor”.
“I believe we could have done better as a bowling unit and won by a bigger margin. We could have bowled in better areas. I think our bowling in the initial overs has been pretty good, but it is the bowling at the death that needs to improve,” Kohli said after the scrappy 23-run win on Wednesday night.
Asked whether he expected Afghanistan to put up the kind of fight they did, Kohli replied, “That’s exactly what happens when you play a lower-ranked opposition. They do not have the fear of failure. They are not concerned about the match situations and little things.
“Normally, in these situations, you find players expressing themselves well and doing the right things more often than not.”
Kohli said that against better oppositions like England, the team would suitably “gear up and execute the plans.”
Openers’ Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag’s form has been a cause of concern and Kohli attributed that to the format.
“Normally, when you hit a bad patch in the T20s, it tends to get stretched for a few matches, but you need that one match to make a comeback. And in this format, a good start means 40-45 runs unlike ODIs where you need 85-90 run starts. I believe our openers are experienced and soon they would get big scores.”
On his own batting form which has been like stuff of dreams, Kohli tried to play it down.
“For me, individual milestones are not important. The target is to score heavily so that I can help my team win more and more matches,” he concluded. (PTI)