Virat Kohli admitted that his approach at the beginning of the innings was poor, but that he analysed what went wrong and played differently later.
Indian captain Virat Kohli played a sublime innings as he scored his highest individual score (94*) in T20I to guide the side to a comfortable six-wicket win against West Indies. Virat returned to the Indian team in the shortest format after two months, as he took a break from T20Is during India's series against Bangladesh.
Chasing 208 to win, Virat began his innings in an oddly different way, as he aimed at hitting more than rotating the strike. He admitted that it was a poor approach at the time.
"All the young batsmen watching don't follow the first half of my innings. That was really bad and I was trying to hit too hard (smiles)," Virat Kohli said during the post-match presentation.
"It was just about keeping upto the game because I didn't want to put KL (Rahul) under pressure, so tried to strike at 140 at least, but I couldn't get going properly. But I started to get going after that over from Jason. I analysed what went wrong and played accordingly in the second half of my innings."
The Indian captain insisted that he doesn't want to change his game as he plays in all the three formats.
"I was trying to hold shape and realised I am not a slogger, so tried to rely on my timing. Whenever I play T20 cricket I am not someone who comes to the ground to hit the ball in the air to entertain the crowd. I focus on doing the job. Our strength as a team is to strike in the latter half of the innings.
"I don't want to change my game too much because I play all three formats. I just want to contribute in all three formats, that's what I want to do. I don't want to be a format specialist.
"When you are chasing a big total, there are a lot of distractions with the scoreboard pressure. But after a few dots, the game puts you in a position where you just have to hold your shape and play the shots."
During his innings, Virat teased Kesrick Williams with his own celebration after hitting him for a six. Williams had given the Indian captain a send-off during a one-off T20I in Jamaica in 2017, but Virat stated in the presentation that the duo shook hands after the game ended.
"It's not the CPL (about Williams's celebration), it happened to me in Jamaica when he got me out. So I thought I'll tick a few in the notebook as well, but all good. There were a few words, but smiles at the end. That's what you want to see. Good competitive cricket but in the end shake hands and give a hi-fi. That's what cricket is all about. Play it hard but have respect for opponents," the captain said.
