Virat Kohli | Player of the Match: For me it’s still quality over quantity, more so now at this stage of
my career. Me being 35, heading into 36 - for me quality over quantity works really well. The
understanding of the game for so many years allows you to practice less but still stay mentally
switched on, that’s something I try to replicate in every practice session I go through. And some
added challenges in terms of improving your own game, certain aspects of the game you want to get
better at. It’s an ever-evolving process, I am certainly not a guy who wants to sit around saying this
is the way I play and not improve on things I need to. I brought out the slog-sweep to the spinners. I
just mentally put myself in that situation, never practiced it at all. I know I can hit it (slog-sweep)
because I have hit it in the past. I need to take a bit more risks. That’s allowing me to hit that shot off
the back foot as well. I have tried to expose that side of the field as well, which for me has been a
massive factor in this IPL. I think it needs a bit more conviction to take out that thought, what if I get
out. I am managing to stay ahead of that thought in this IPL and that is really helping me in the
middle overs to keep the strike rate up and keeping the scoring rate going for the team as well. The
only way to go through a long tournament is to absolutely be honest with yourselves. We were just
not good enough in the first half of the tournament, precisely why we are in a situation again where
so many factors after we win two games still have to go our way. Not an ideal scenario to be a part of,
especially when we have won the second game of the season and we had those losses on the trot.
Couple of close games, but still we were outplayed in most of those games (earlier in the
tournament.) We just had a honest chat in the changing room that’s not good enough. Playing at this
level we need to pull up our socks and need to be more brave with the ball and bat. I think the
starting point was Kolkata where we came out and bowled that way in the powerplay, kept hunting
for wickets and that game went down to the wire. That gave us more belief that this is the kind of
cricket we want to play. It came to a point where we were like you know what, don’t look at the table
and play for self respect. We as cricketers have gone through such hardships and such a long journey
to be at this level, so we can’t go out there and play in a way that doesn’t make yourselves proud and
the fans as well. They turn out in huge numbers and we can’t keep disappointing them like this. So
need to raise our level and play for our own pride as a team. The confidence came back, now we are
on a roll but again you think what if this momentum had caught up just a week before, we wouldn’t
have been in a position where we have to depend on so many factors.
