Kohli gets 50
"I was tagged as someone who cannot play the short ball after the West Indies tour. When I went in today, I knew they will throw the short balls at me. I had a blank mind before playing every ball, which helped," said Kohli on Friday. "Test matches are mental mind games and the more clear I leave my mind, the better decision I can make."
"To a certain extent I thought I got the West Indies call because so many people took rest. Not having done well there, scoring runs again in a calendar year and getting back into the team was satisfying."
"It was a better feeling that you are included as that way you know the selectors and the team management are showing faith in you in doing well in that format. It's a confidence-booster."
It was Sachin who instructed Virat to play normally.
"It's all about having a good mindset. Being in good form is fine, but I needed to be in the right frame of mind to go and perform. It was one of those days today when I thought 'I am going to get my full stride out and if I can leave from the front foot, nothing better.' I left them quite well. Sachin told me to prepare normally and I did so. It helped," said Kohli.
Kohli felt that Sachin was unnecessarily pressurised by the formidable media and that is how he missed out of his epic century of centuries.
"A lot of people have put unnecessary pressure on him. I don't know why. He has achieved so much and people are making such a fuss about it," said Kohli.
Sachin, he said, was relaxed in the dressing room, after missing out the most wanted hundred.
"I was still batting when he came back so I don't know instantly what happened. He was pretty relaxed afterwards. It has happened to him a lot of times. Obviously, he will be disappointed on missing out on a ton, but he has been around long enough not to get bothered by it. He was pretty relaxed in the dressing room."
Kohli was all praise for Ashwin, who took five for and scored a brilliant hundred.
"He batted brilliantly, timed the ball well. I could see standing at the other end, his mind was totally free. He was totally relaxed and pretty much sure of what he wanted to do and reacting to the ball," said Kohli. "The confidence from his bowling rubbed off. He just came out and started timing the ball very well."
"We all knew he has batting abilities. He has two first-class tons. He is in a good space as he has taken wickets (18) in this series. Getting a hundred is always special for a bowler. It was a brilliant innings."
Ashwin at the other end allowed Kohli to settle down and that he is how he played well for his fifty.
"It was good to have Ashwin scoring from the other end. I could also take my time and just get myself to spend more time in the middle. It was a very good innings from him."
India may very well win this Test on Sunday, feels the formidable batsman.
"Our aim was to get early breakthroughs, which we got. We would have loved to have them four wickets down, but that did not happen unfortunately. Tomorrow could be interesting if we could get early wickets. We will try and put pressure on them. The game is still very much alive," he insisted.
WI were 81/2 and India have to get eight wickets and score the necessary runs on the fourth innings to wrap up this Test, a possibility echoed by Kohli.
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