Star batter Virat Kohli was in his vintage mode on Sunday night, when Team India took on Australia in the third and final T20I of the three-match series. Kohli smashed 63 off 48 balls and helped Team India chase down the target of 187, with six wickets in hand at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. With this win, the Rohit Sharma-led side also claimed the three-match T20I series 2-1. Team India required 11 runs off the last over, when Kohli and Hardik Pandya were on the crease and the former smashed a huge six on the first delivery of pacer Adam Zampa, before getting dismissed on the second one.
After the match, Kohli called Zampa a “quality bowler” and revealed that he came up with a mindset of going after him in the third T20I on Sunday.
“I kind of made up my mind to go after him (Adam Zampa) today. He’s a quality bowler and he tries to control my scoring rate whenever we play, I knew that he was going to attack the stumps, so I was standing outside leg already. Last game I was a bit disappointed that after hitting him for a four, I went for a double rather than hitting him for a six,” said Kohli in a post-match presentation.
The batter further said that the game shouldn’t have gone down to the wires if he would have gotten his big shots correctly during the middle overs.
“The game shouldn’t have gone on that long, we should have probably had 4 or 5 to chase in the final over. It was important to maintain my composure and get one boundary (on that first-ball six in the 20th over). I’m happy with my contribution to the team, I took a break, went back to the nets, worked hard on my fitness, and think it’s coming off well. I want to keep contributing and doing my best for the team,” said Kohli.
Coming to the match, Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli played knocks of 69 and 63 respectively as Team India chased down the target of 187 to win the third T20I by six wickets to clinch the series 2-1.
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Earlier, Tim David and Cameron Green had scored 54 and 52 respectively to help Australia post 186/7 in 20 overs. For India, Axar Patel returned with three wickets.
Team India will next square off against South Africa in a three-match T20I series, beginning Wednesday.
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