I think it's very important to look ugly at times and earn victories: Virat Kohli

It was the kind of game that will help India in their World Cup campaign. Over the past two years, India have made putting up big totals on board a habit and low-scoring games haven’t exactly been their thing. Skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been in spectacular form during that period, Bumrah’s emergence has been superb as well but games that go down to the wire have a way of boosting confidence and imparting lessons that easy wins don’t.

The second ODI came down to one over from Vijay Shankar. His first over had gone for 13 runs and Kohli hadn’t turned to him till the final over of the innings. It was a difficult choice no doubt but one that presented Shankar with an opportunity.

The Tamil Nadu all-rounder has made an impression with the bat for a while now. He looks the part. Technically solid and capable of playing the shots too. He needed all of that as he joined Kohli at a difficult time with India reduced to 75/3.

“When I walk to bat and the situation gets difficult, I had no no choice, just needed to put my head down and bat. Me and Vijay Shankar had a good partnership. He (Shankar) was batting outstandingly well, but was unfortunately run-out. I knew 250+ would be challenging,” said Kohli after the game.

The dismissal Kohli was referring to was that of the worst kind. The India skipper smashed the ball straight back, Adam Zampa got a finger to it and Shankar was stranded, just out of his crease, walking back for no fault of his. His 46 off 41 balls had been a classy innings on a tough pitch.

But perhaps the key moment for Shankar came when Kohli decided to throw the ball to him for the last over. It was a big audition – the allrounder needed to prove that his bowling was worth something. A chance to show what he is all about.

“I was literally just waiting for this, to show that I can bowl under pressure. I kept telling myself from around the 43rd over that I will bowl the last over,” said Shankar after the game.

But Kohli had had some doubts about when he should bring in Shankar or maybe even Kedar Jadhav.

“I was thinking about the 46th over [to go with Kedar/Shankar]. I was talking with both of them [Rohit and Dhoni]. If they [Bumrah and Shami] take wickets, we’ll be right in the game and that’s exactly what happened . He [Shankar] just put the ball in the right areas. He showed great composure with both bat and the ball; a good game for him,” said Kohli.

The think tank of Dhoni, Sharma and Kohli are making all the right decisions and guiding the younger lot very indeed. The Indian skipper is making good use of their experience.

“Both are experienced, it’s always nice to speak them. Rohit is the vice-captain and MS has been there for a long time. These guys watch the game so keenly. I have a word with the bowler as well, invariably all of them are on the same page,” added Kohli.

Still, perhaps all of this wouldn’t have counted for much without Jasprit Bumrah’s usual dose of magic.

Two fabulous overs from Bumrah turned things around for India. He gave away just one run and took 2 wickets in the 46th over and then returned in the 48th over to give away just 1 run as Stoinis was content just to block him out.

Kohli said: “He [Bumrah] is a champion. He just turned the game around, he’s at the top of the rankings, he’s at the top of his game. So proud to have him on our side.”

But for the India skipper, the big positive was the manner in which his team continued to fight till the very end. They didn’t have the big runs on board but they had the belief.

“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 WC games as well,” said Kohli. “We will fight till the end, and tonight was an example of that.”