Champions Trophy 2017 | Kohli showed his team some tough love after the loss to Sri Lanka

A clinical all-round performance from India handed South Africa a crushing 8-wicket defeat in a virtual quarterfinal played at the Oval in London yesterday. The Indian bowlers first did a commendable job to restrict the Proteas to a paltry total of 191, which was then followed by a dazzling batting display led by the batsmen who chased down the target with 12 overs to spare. 

India's performance yesterday was even more commendable given that it came after a demoralising loss to Sri Lanka in their second game. And as expected, Kohli got stuck into his players after that game. 

"You have to be honest. You have to sometimes say things that hurt. That's what I believe in," Kohli said in the post-match conference.

"You have to lay it out in front of them that this is what we did wrong, including me, and we need to take it on the chin and accept it and prove it. That's why we are chosen among millions of people to play at this level. You have to be good enough to do that for the country and you have to be good enough to bounce back, as well, You can't do the same mistakes over and over again " he added.

However, the skipper admitted that he was happy with the way his team responded to his criticism in the game against South Africa.

"It's not about asking two, three players to do it. We are asking everyone to do it and everyone is responding really well," he said. 

Following the win, India became the third team to join England and Bangladesh in the semi-finals. Moreover, the final team to battle it out in the semi-finals will also be an Asian one and will be decided later today when Pakistan and Sri Lanka face-off against each other at the Sophia Gardens stadium in Cardiff.

Kohli shared his thoughts on the dominance of Asian teams in the ongoing tournament saying, "Maybe because of how much limited-overs cricket we play, I think the players are getting more experienced in difficult situations, Maybe some of the teams have really surprised the opposition with the way they have batted and bowled in certain situations."