Dubai: Virat Kohli, the India skipper on Monday said aggression defines his game and the day that fizzles out on the field he will stop playing cricket. Kohli led the Indian team for the last time in T20Is against Namibia, where the Men in Blue won a thumping victory over the Indian camp to close the T20 World Cup.
“A big thank you to all those guys (Ravi Shastri and his support staff). They have done a great job over the years, creating such a wonderful environment for the players. People loved to get back to the atmosphere. They have done a really great job,” said Kohli after the win.
“That (his aggression) is never going to change. The day it does, I’ll stop playing cricket. Even before I became captain, I have always loved to contribute in some way or the other.” he added.
On promoting Suryakumar Yadav to the No. 3 spot during the game in Dubai, he said, “Surya didn’t get much game time in this World Cup, so I thought it will be a nice memory to take back. That was the idea. He didn’t have one good outing, then he was injured and later he didn’t get to bat against Afghanistan. So I thought it would be good for him to take something back from a stage like the T20 World Cup.”
Kohli also admitted that he was relieved after relinquishing the captaincy and said it was the right time for him to manage the workload.
“Relief firstly (on leaving T20I captaincy). It’s been an honour but things need to be kept in the right perspective. I felt this was the right time for me to manage my workload. It’s been six or seven years of intense cricket every time we take the field and it takes a lot out of you. It has been amazing, so much fun, a great bunch of guys who have played together for so long and really performed well as a team,” said Kohli in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Heavy defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two matches prevented India from going through to the semi-finals. They thus finished the Super 12 stage third in Group 2 behind Pakistan and New Zealand. He reckoned that some results didn’t go in their favour but they have played really good cricket.
“The guys have been fantastic, I know we haven’t got the results here but we have played some really good cricket. The guys have really made my work easier. The way we played the last three games, it’s a game of margins – T20 cricket these days,” he elaborated.
