Virat Kohli Impressed With KL Rahul's Performance At Number Four

Virat Kohli was a happy skipper as India posted a mammoth total of 359/7 during their second World Cup warm-up game against Bangladesh at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Tuesday. Kohli gave enough indications that KL Rahul, who scored a 99-ball-108, has sealed his spot at number four. Moreover, Kohli made it clear that he was not too worried about Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma's patchy form in the two warm-up games ahead of the tournament proper. "The biggest positive from today was the way KL (Rahul) batted at No. 4. Everyone else know their roles. It is important that he gets the runs as he is such a class player," Kohli said after India's 95-run win. 

"We have had two good challenges in the two games while batting first. Shikhar and Rohit are quality players, they become stars in ICC events. Ideally we would have liked to chase today. I understand if guys don't get going right away in this format. In warm-up games, at times, you don't get the motivation especially because the amount of cricket that we play. But I am glad with what we got out of these two games," Kohli came in defence of the opening duo.

MS Dhoni played a destructive knock as he smashed 113 off 78 balls while Hardik Pandya contributed 21 from 11 deliveries down the order.

"MS (Dhoni) and Hardik were superb as well," Kohli added. 

Kohli also praised his spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal for picking three wickets each.

"We were challenged by their batsmen as well but we bowled well and our spinners got wickets too. Bumrah got us the breakthrough and Chahal and Kuldeep got us six wickets," Kohli said.

India will begin their campaign against South Africa on June 5 in Southampton. 

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Bangladesh Cricket Team Virat Kohli Lokesh Rahul World Cup 2019 Cricket