Virat Kohli.
Credit: Reuters
Dharamsala: New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell feels Indian star Virat Kohli’s sublime knock of 95 was the difference between the two teams in their World Cup match here.
Mitchell smashed 130 off 127 balls and shared a century stand for the third wicket with Rachin Ravindra to help New Zealand reach 273 on Sunday.
But Mitchell’s knock did not prove to be enough as Kohli anchored the chase to take India home in 48 overs.
“He's a world class player and he'll go down as one of the greats of the game for a reason."
"A very good knock under pressure I thought and although he didn't get 100, he got his team across the line,” Mitchell said after the four-wicket loss on Sunday.
Mitchell praised New Zealand’s bowling effort and said the conditions got better for batting under lights.
“…us as Kiwis, we'll just keep throwing punches, we'll keep trying different things and we'll keep trying to take wickets.
“I'm just really proud of our bowling unit tonight and how they tried to do that for periods of time and in conditions which probably got better with the dew with the wicket."
The right-handed batter said the Kiwis were 20-30 runs short of what could have been a winning total.
“You obviously always want more runs, but at the same time I thought the platform that we set and the way we wanted to go about it was in true Black Caps style.So, for us, we'll just keep chipping in and we'll work on a few things, and we'll be good to go next time,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell was aggressive against Kuldeep Yadav early on in his innings and the Kiwi said his plan was to put pressure on the in-form Indian wrist spinner.
“I've known Kuldeep for a while now, he's a great man and we get on well off the field and yeah for me it's just keep trying to find ways to put pressure on their bowlers, it's not just him it's the same with every bowler that we come up against,” he said.
“It's about trying to find ways to put pressure on them. He's done really well over the last few years for India and it's awesome to see him have some success.
“You come in with plans, you come up with ways you want to play different guys. And for me today, that was obviously an option that worked.' Mitchell also praised younger teammate Ravindra for his 87-ball 75-run knock.
“It was awesome to bat with Rach, he's obviously in a rich form at the moment and yeah, we were just having some fun out there and taking in what it is to be part of an amazing World Cup, to play at grounds like this and at crowds like this,” he said.
The 32-year-old Kiwi batter also had high regards for the Indian bowlers performance in the death overs.
“We set the platform there at that sort of 35 over mark, it was very similar to what India were at that stage and obviously we knew that India's got a world-class death-bowling unit and for us it was trying to cash in at the end and I thought the way India bowled was pretty special obviously,” Mitchell said.
Just like Mohammad Shami, Mitchell too doesn’t have any complaints about the poor outfield of the HPCA stadium here.
“This is a beautiful place to play cricket you can only look up at the mountains and it looks amazing.
“For us we’ve got standards within our Black Caps that you come and do everything you can to help us win games of cricket and part of that is diving on the boundary and stopping the ball when you get the chance and that's something we're proud of ourselves as Black Caps and we'll continue to do it no matter where we play in the world,” he said.
In a bizarre occurrence, sudden dense fog interrupted the match for a brief period during India’s innings and Mitchell termed it as an amazing experience.
“It was strange, wasn't it? I have experienced it before in first class cricket in Karori Park in Wellington when the fog came in. So yeah, this game continues to provide wonderful things, doesn't it? It was an amazing experience, that's for sure.”