Defending low totals will be crucial at World Cup: Kohli

TIL Desk Sports/ Praising the team for victory over Australia in the second One-Day International (ODI) here on Tuesday, Virat Kohli asserted that the grit and attacking spirit displayed by Indians during their successful defence of ‘a lowish’ total will stand them in good stead during the World Cup later this year.

Asked to bat first, Indians were dismissed for 250 runs before restricting the visitors to 242. “Just to come through in games like these, gives great confidence. I think it’s very important to look ugly at times and earn victories. There might be low totals in World Cup games as well. We will fight till the end, and tonight was an example of that,” Kohli said after the match.

Kohli’s century was the highlight of the Indian innings. Coming in to bat after Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the first over, the Indian skipper batted almost till the end, scoring 116 runs off 120 balls with 10 boundaries studding his patient innings. He received good support from Vijay Shankar, who scored 46 off 41 deliveries before being run out. The duo added 81 runs to boost the total. Despite the low total, Kohli said he knew it would be challenging.