ICC World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli Gives Credit To The Bowlers For The Win Against Australia

Virat Kohli led India have been in a formidable form in the ongoing ICC World Cup. Having started with a convincing victory over South Africa in their first game at The Rose Bowl in Southampton, they registered another victory over Australia at Kennington Oval, London. After having put up a huge total on board, Indian bowlers did an amazing job to restrict their opponent.

Australia, the defending champion, are one of the strongest teams in the tournament. They have won their first two games against Afghanistan and West Indies respectively. India, who won the toss on Sunday’s game, elected to bat first. While Rohit Sharma scored a fifty, Shikhar Dhawan smashed a blistering century.

Captain Virat Kohli also scored a steady 82 whereas Hardik Pandya, who was promoted to No. 4, scored a stormy 48 off 27 with 4 boundaries and 3 sixes. Former captain MS Dhoni also scored a quickfire 27 off 14 and took the team to 352. While the batsmen made the winning foundation with the score, bowlers supported them well by restricting their opponent on a batting pitch. Kohli, however, praised the bowlers for their efforts.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah picked up 3 wickets each while Yuzvendra Chahal took 2 for India.

“It was an outstanding performance with the ball on a good batting track. You have to bowl well. You can’t take things for granted,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation. A top, top win for us after losing that series in India. We came in with intent right from ball one. The opening partnership was outstanding.”

“That 30 runs gives you the luxury. One of the top three getting hundred always helps and after that we decided to send Hardik Pandya to cash in on the situation. This was a very professional performance again. You hardly need to say anything to them,” he added.

“Very happy with the performance overall. We are a great fielding side, we took great catches. We have a good bowling side, great spinners as well. We worked really hard in the nets and our process is very strong that’s why the results are going our way,” an excited Shikhar Dhawan expressed after the match, who was named the ‘Man of The Match’.

“We ticked all the boxes today. We knew they are a great side and the match will go down to the wire. We need to continue ticking the boxes in upcoming matches,” said the left-handed opener who has gone through a scan to get an idea about his finger injury which he was sustaining while batting.

India will take on New Zealand in their next match on Thursday, June 13 at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.