"I was feeling a lot of pressure" - Virat Kohli opens up on his heroic knock against Pakistan in the 20-20 World Cup

Virat Kohli (Source: Twitter)

The India vs Pakistan game in the 20-20 World Cup turned out to be a spectacle like no other as both teams fought till the last ball for a win. India emerged victorious in the nail-biting thriller courtesy of a scintillating knock of 82 off 53 balls by Virat Kohli. Kohli led India to India to an improbable win after they were reeling at 31/4 after 6.1 overs.

However, the star Indian batter didn’t look at his best early on in his innings as he could only manage to score 12 runs off the first 21 balls that he faced. After playing one of the greatest knocks ever in the history of T20 internationals, Kohli opened up about his thought process throughout his innings and his slow start in a post-match interview.

"When I was 12 off 21, I was like 'I am really messing this game up. I am not putting ball in the gaps'. But when you have experience and understand the value of batting deep, that's always been my role playing for India. I know that I can do a lot of the power-hitting towards the end of the innings," said Kohli on Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the 20-20 World Cup.

"We knew it would turn at some stage": Virat Kohli

Kohli along with Hardik Pandya weathered the storm by settling in and getting used to the conditions. The duo took on the left-arm seamer Mohammad Nawaz to keep up with the required run rate that was soaring high with every dot ball. They were involved in a 113-run-stand for the fifth wicket off 78 balls to keep India in the hunt. Kohli was full of praise for Pandya to help him ease out in his innings.

"Honestly, I was feeling a lot of pressure at that stage. But then when he came in and he hit a few boundaries, I kind of opened up. That partnership, we didn't even realise when we got to our 100. We kept talking, we kept running hard and kept watching their body language. We knew it would turn at some stage, it turned quite late to be honest. We would have liked to do it earlier," the former India captain stated.