New ODI rules have made life difficult for batsmen: Kohli

One-day cricket seems to have changed as the back end of an innings might actually end up as one of the lowest phases of run-scoring.

India’s Test captain Virat Kohli said the new ODI rule allowing one extra fielder outside the circle in the last ten overs has made things difficult for the batsmen to concentrate on hitting only boundaries in the sub-continental conditions.

"It has become a little more difficult compared to rules in the past, especially in the subcontinent. Ball is becoming rough and old, there is not enough pace on the wicket and it’s difficult to hit boundaries or get the ball away with one extra fielder outside.

"I don’t think it will be difficult outside the subcontinent because it may not be such a bad thing to rotate strike, take less risk in hitting boundaries. It’s exactly what I did in the last game (when he made a glorious 138).

"It needs more mental preparations to run than hit boundaries and that’s what I tried to do, tried to keep dot balls to minimum. Rotating strike more and relying less on boundaries requires a bit of mental discipline."

The mood was upbeat in the Indian team after winning the Chennai game on October 22 and staying alive in the series, said Kohli.

"The mood is good after winning the last game which was very important for us. We had not played collectively good cricket before the last game. As (captain) MS (Mahendra Singh Dhoni ) has mentioned in the past as well, everyone has been batting well.

"Because of these rule changes, sometimes you go out there and sometimes you are not able to hit boundaries and you don’t know what is to be done. We figured out what to do and we were able to execute that which is always a confidence-booster."