ICC World Cup 2019 | We’ll know where we stand after six games, says Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli does not want to get ahead of himself and reckons that it is too early to start thinking about the semi-finals at this point in time in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019. The Indian captain heaped praise on his team after their recent 36-run win against defending champions Australia.
The Indian cricket team looked in good form as they defeated the defending champions Australia on the weekend by 36 runs courtesy of a Shikhar Dhawan century. Useful contributions by skipper Virat Kohli (82), Hardik Pandya (48) and MS Dhoni (27) helped the Indians register the highest score of 352 against Australia at a World Cup.
After securing two wins from two games against top-class opposition, India will definitely be considered one of the favourites to make the top-four stage of this year’s World Cup in England. However, skipper Kohli is adamant that is too early to be thinking about the semi-finals at this point in the tournament as he said that they will get a better idea of where they stand after playing six games.
"I think it's too early to decide that. I think after about six games we'll be in a better position to know where we stand in the tournament. We couldn't have asked for a better start against two strong sides.
"The good thing is we're playing all strong sides upfront, so if we do well in the first phase, we'll be in a better position to reach the semifinals. From that point of view, we have to be at the top of our game and that's precisely what we've done in the two games. We were more motivated to win because of the fact that we lost the series in India after being 2-0 up," Kohli said as per TOI reports.
The 30-year-old Delhi batsman further heaped praise on the Indian team that put in an all-round performance to comfortably outplay Aaron Finch & Co. at the Oval. Kohli also spoke about the promotion of Hardik Pandya up the batting order which proved to be a smart move.
"I couldn't have asked for a better game in all three departments. We set the tone the way we wanted to with the bat upfront, getting a very good opening partnership. I got runs, Hardik played outstandingly well, MS played his role perfectly, KL struck the ball so beautifully. From that point of view, I think we played a really good One-day game, something that any team would want to do.
"The communication was if I get out, MS (Dhoni) will come in to control that one end, and if the other guy gets out, Hardik would step in. The communication came from the management that said let's send Hardik and try and capitalise on this (the good start) because last time we played here against Sri Lanka we got 330 and we still lost the game. And then Hardik said to me in the middle that if I'm there at one end, it gives him the freedom to strike from ball one, and he wanted to strike at 200. That was his plan, and then MS came in and he did the same job beautifully. The management understood that this is a phase where we could get those extra runs, and they just sent Hardik. I think that was a very, very good plan," the Indian captain added.