Dharamsala: New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell feels Indian star Virat Kohli’s chic knock of 95 was the distinction between the 2 groups of their ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match. Mitchell smashed 130 off 127 balls and shared a century stand for the third wicket with Rachin Ravindra to assist New Zealand attain 273 on Sunday.
But Mitchell’s knock didn’t show to be sufficient as Kohli anchored the chase to take India residence 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 mentioned after the four-wicket loss on Sunday.
Mitchell praised New Zealand’s bowling effort and mentioned the situations bought higher for batting beneath 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 mentioned the Kiwis had been 20-30 runs wanting what may have been a profitable whole. “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 mentioned.
Virat Kohli’s newest match-winning knock in opposition to New Zealand at #CWC23 got here as no shock to India captain Rohit Sharma _
Details _ https://t.co/Pxpjsfogmd pic.twitter.com/d6xS0WHQVF
— ICC (@ICC) October 23, 2023
Mitchell was aggressive in opposition to Kuldeep Yadav early on in his innings and the Kiwi mentioned his plan was to place strain 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 mentioned.
“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 additionally praised youthful 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 mentioned.
