Former India skipper Virat Kohli has come out in support of young pacer Arshdeep Singh, who had a poor outing on the field in the in the second match of the Super 4 stage against Pakistan on Sunday.
The contest went down to the wire, where the men in green held their nerves better and recorded a thrilling victory by five wickets. Notably, Arshdeep was in the thick of things during Pakistan’s chase when he dropped a sitter of Asif Ali in the 18th over, bowled by leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
Asif went for a glory shot, but mistimed and Arshdeep – positioned at a backward point – couldn’t keep his calm and dropped a sitter. The Punjab speedster did come back well to bowl the final over; however, he couldn’t stop Pakistan from getting over the finish line.
After the game, Kohli backed Arshdeep stating anyone can make mistakes in a high-pressure match and it is important to learn from them and move on. Kohli said the team environment is great and all support each other.
“Anyone can make mistakes under pressure. It was a big game, and the situation was also tight. I remember when I played my first game against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, I played a bad shot against Shahid Afridi and got out, I couldn’t sleep and was just staring at the ceiling till 5 in the morning. I thought I was never going to play again. It is natural to feel bad,” said Kohli in the post-match press conference.
“As a team, we’ll regroup tomorrow. When the team environment is great, you learn from these things. Credit for this goes to management and captain for the environment they have created that ‘No worries, next time something like this happens, we want it to come our way’. So one must accept his mistake, address it and look forward to being in that pressure situation once again,” he added.