 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Pleased Kohli praises his young teammates
Virat Kohli is as pleased as punch!
The young and dashing skipper started the Zimbabwe tour of India on a positive note with a victory and also smashed a century in his team’s win.
The Delhi lad scored a stunning hundred in India's comprehensive six-wicket win over the hosts while chasing 228 to win.
Kohli who won the man-of-the-match award said, “It's always good to kick off a tour with a win and personally I was happy with the way I played. The ball was moving around a bit early on and it was all about percentage cricket, rotating the strike and then playing your shots at the end."
'Our bowlers did a very good job'
The skipper credited his bowlers for setting up the easy chase.
"Our bowlers did a very good job. The new ball was doing quite a bit in the morning and with two new balls you can't count any team out," he said.
It's been a long wait for me: Ambati Rayudu
Kohli also acknowledged debutant Ambati Rayudu's effort as he came up with an unbeaten half-century. Kohli and Rayudu added 159 runs for the third wicket.
"Congratulations to Ambati Rayudu, he's got an India call-up after a long time and he's grabbed his opportunity very well," he said.
Rayudu seemed a satisfied man after spending a sleepless night before making his India debut.
"It's been a long wait for me. When I came to know about my debut, I couldn't sleep last night. I was totally blank. My only aim today was to go out there and enjoy myself. I decided that I will play each ball on its merit. It was great to play with Virat who is the best batsman in ODI cricket. My job was to play alongside him," he said.
'We could have been a bit more proactive'
Losing skipper Brendon Taylor was not disappointed with the effort of his side but wished they had scored some more runs against a formidable batting line-up.
"First hour was vital, we didn't lose any wickets but we could have been a bit more proactive. Against a quality side like India we needed 270 on the board," he said.
Taylor also derived satisfaction from performance of two players -- opener Skinadar Raza, who scored 82 and off-spinner Prosper Utseya, who took two of the four Indian wickets that fell.
Utseya accounted for Kohli and Suresh Raina, who could not even open his account.