Mirpur: As India survived Mohammad Amir’s scare after Virat Kohli steered the Men-in-Blue to a five-wicket win over their arch-rivals in the Asia Cup T20 match at Mirpur on Saturday, the Indian batting sensation congratulated the Pakistani left-arm fast bowler for bowling such a fantastic spell, which initially put India on the back-foot in their chase of a paltry 83-run target.

“I would like to congratulate Mohammad Amir for the way he bowled. I actually congratulated him while he was bowling. It was amazing to play such a spell,” said Kohli, adding that it wasn't an easy wicket to bat.

“I wasn't happy with myself in the last game, where I went too hard at the ball. I had to respect the conditions. I made mistakes in the last innings but I dug in this time. Counterattacking is the game I play, that's why I bat at No.3. But sometimes you have to respect the conditions and play that way. It is very important to be able to change your shot at the last moment in such conditions ... you need to be switched on mentally, stay calm and relaxed,” said Kohli, who was declared man-of-the-match for his timely and sensible 49-run knock.

Indian skipper MS Dhoni said, “We are a team that loves to play aggressive cricket but this pushes us to respect the conditions which will be good going into the WT20. I'm glad we restricted them to 83 runs. Had it been 100 or 110 runs, the game would have been on. The fast bowlers did well but even after that we took wickets at regular intervals, which are crucial to stop runs in this format, we have to be switched on in the field. That is one department where you can guarantee performance, one run out can take the game away from the opposition."

Meanwhile, Pakistani skipper, Shahid Afridi said, “We have played so much cricket and we should have read the pitch. We did not play according to the pitch. If we lose 4-5 batsmen in the first six overs, we can't score 140, We had to read the situation. Kohli was an example and Yuvi too. If we had survived the fast bowlers there wasn't much turn on the pitch for their spinners.”