Kolkata might be the place where we play to our potential: Virat Kohli

Team India had a dream day at the office in the second ODI at Cuttack. Skipper Virat Kohli was a mighty pleased man after his side edged England by 15 runs in the match. India have now taken a 2-0 unassailable lead in the series with one more match to play. On the day, it was all about rolling back the years for team India. It was vintage Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni who took India to a powerful total in the match. India reeled at 25/3 at one stage and then the senior pros added over 250 runs for the 4th wicket.

Brilliant tons from them saw India post 381 on the board. England tried hard but could not get over the line. Despite a ton from skipper Eoin Morgan, England missed out by 15 runs on the day. In the bowling department, it was Chris Woakes who was exceptional for England. For the hosts, it was the same familiar assasin, Ravichandran Ashwin. Ashwin bagged three wickets in the middle overs to bring India back to the game. He had gone wicketless in the last match.

Talking to Ravi Shastri after the match, he mentioned that MS Dhoni’s advice from behind the stumps helped him bowl right areas. “Obviously, very important to forget the last game. The ground was slightly smaller at Pune. The ground here was slightly bigger. It was important to start off from where I was comfortable with. Actually it was very very important to get the feedback from Mahi from behind the sticks as to what pace and channels to bowl at,” said Ashwin.

“The game has changed quite a bit in the last year or so. You have to go for wickets. The extra fielder also helps. Especially the margin by which we won, we needed those wickets as they were big big players for England in the chase. It was very very important to chip away with the wickets in the middle overs. Jaddu is very economical with his line and length and allows me the allowance to go for wickets. It is a fine line but I don’t mind that. There was a lot of dew and you try not to use the seam a lot rather go cross seam,” quoted Ashwin.

English skipper Eoin Morgan was rightly disappointed after missing out on guiding his team to the glory. He reflected back at the fact that things can get tougher when bowling to Yuvraj and Dhoni with powerful willows in their hands.

“Yeah, we needed someone in the top-rder to get a big hundred. We weren’t at our best today. Disappointed to get very close and not manage to get over the line. But India played better than us in very similar conditions to what we were in the last game. We weren’t at our best today with the ball and bowling to an in Dhoni and Yuvraj with the bats these days and the five men inside the circle is never easy. The last ten are slightly easier but the run up to those ten aren’t,” said Morgan.

“We knew how dangerous those two can be and the challenge for us was to break that partnership. We showed a lot of fight, we have a huge amount of talent and we believed we could chase that down. We have chased 350 down earlier, almost chased 398 against New Zealand but we just did not have the skills today to pull it off. Honestly Cuttack has been the best of all the crowds that we have had in this series,” he added further.

Without a doubt, skipper Virat Kohli was a happy man on the day. He was extremely pleased with the way Dhoni and Yuvraj batted. However, he feels the team is yet to play to their potential. He mentioned that Kolkata ODI might well be the match when India plays to its potential.

“We were wondering if we had a good start where we were going to end up today. 25/3, under the pump and not great batting initially but two of our greats stepping up took us there. That is exactly what we envisioned on getting Yuvi back. Scoring at four runs an over and ending up with 381 was incredible. I thought 340 was par taking the wicket and the dew into consideration, 380 was far fetched though they got close going hard at the start and at the end. We knew we would get wickets at some stage or the other,” said Virat Kohli.

“Bowling second was pretty difficult and I was wondering how it would have been had we chased this one. With the dew taking full effect under lights, I thought it was an incredible effort from all our bowlers to keep them down. My situation is slightly different, winning the series first is important before I try and experiment. The next game will be key for us with the Champions Trophy coming up. The openers will need to express themselves and we can figure out what the best combination would be for us. With the little guy coming in at the end and blasting it away, it says a lot about us.”

“Both the spinners coming off a strong Test series has been a strong point for us. Stepping up just when the team needed. Jadeja, conceding only 45-odd runs in his ten overs and then Ashwin coming in was key. The way they struck in the middle overs and pulled things back for us for very important. I think we are playing up to only 75 percent of our potential. If all the batsmen explode we might get a lot more. Calcutta might be the place,” conceded Virat Kohli.

Yuvraj Singh was rightly named the Man of the Match for his marathon knock of 150 runs. This remains to be his highest score in ODIs. Yuvraj credited the domestic season and the lady luck for his herculean knock. He also mentined that scoring 150 was on the cards for him.

“Yes the domestic season helped me immensely. I have been hitting the ball really well and working very hard on my fitness and the results showed today. Yes definitely, the lady luck is there and the prayers of my mother and my Guruji have helped me and kept me going. Mahi and me understand the situation very well and we have played with each other for quite a bit to understand each other as well,” said Yuvraj.

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“I started to hit the ball along the ground and not take any risk and once we got the rhythm and the partnership going we started to kick on. We weren’t thinking of a big score but once we got a 50-run partnership going we started to keep playing our shots. We were thinking of 340-350 but with wickets in hand ended up at 380. I rate this innings as my best because I started my career as a lower order batsman and the higher you bat the more the runs you’ll get.”

“It was a dream to get a 150 and am glad I got there. I had a lot of belief in myself though there wasn’t much from outside and spoke to Sanjay (Bangar) and told him that a big one was coming soon. (About his fitness) I think my diet is the key and that is what I have learnt from my seniors like Tendulkar and Kumble,” he concluded.