Colombo: Indian skipper MS Dhoni praised his bowlers and in-form batsman Virat Kohli for India's eight-wicket victory over the arch-rivals Pakistan in a crucial T20 World Cup Super Eights match here at the R. Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday.
India who required a win to keep their hopes alive in the tournament bowled brilliantly and then it was Virat Kohli’s heroics that helped the men in blue register rout Pakistan convincingly.
"The team responded well and the bowlers bowled really well to restrict Pakistan to a small total. After a couple of overs, we settled down,” Dhoni said after the match.
"The part-time bowlers did a very good job and that was crucial as we were playing with seven batsmen," Dhoni added.
Talking about Kohli's good run for India, Dhoni said he was very pleased and it was very good for the team.
"It is good that Kohli is taking the responsibility. He has been someone who has been consistent in the last one and half years. It is good that a batsman has been in consistent form and others are revolving around him," said the skipper.
Meanwhile, talking about Yuvraj Singh who was instrumental with both bat and all, Dhoni said, “If we look at our combination, we play seven batsmen and you can't leave someone like Yuvraj Singh out of the side. We had never considered the option of leaving out Yuvraj," Dhoni said at the post-match press conference.
"Our bowling line-up is such that we need a left-arm bowler who can take the ball away from the batsman. Also he is a brilliant fielder as you saw with the run-out today," he added.
Lot of people were apprehensive about Yuvraj’s return to the international cricket and questioned his fitness, but then Dhoni said he is was not worried about it a lot and said that the star all rounder is fit to play atleast in this format of the game.
"I am not really concerned about his fitness as far as T20 cricket is concerned. He has worked really hard at the NCA for the past few months.
He has also played some active T20 matches before coming into international cricket. More so the batting time in the middle will certainly helphim as in domestic cricket, you don't get the kind of bowlers you get here."
By Indian Sports News Network