Team India kick-started their grueling England tour in a thrashing way where Kuldeep Yadav claimed a fifer and KL Rahul scored a magnificent century in the first T20I of three-match T20I series against the hosts England at Old Trafford (Manchester) on Tuesday. England was restricted to just 159/8 in 20 overs while India reached their target in 18.2 overs after losing only their both openers. Indian skipper Virat Kohli smashed the winning runs.

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli explained the reasons behind him dropping down to the no. 4 batting position. He said, “It gives someone like KL the freedom to go after in the powerplay. We want our cricketers to be fearless, enjoy themselves just like what Kuldeep and he did today. It may not work out well every time but we need to stick to it. We dropped Jos and we know how dangerous he can be. It was a moment where I felt we needed to hold on to everything and I got the opportunity to convert.”

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He further added: “We are shuffling around keeping the World Cup in mind and that’s why KL went in at three and I went in at four. Umesh was superb with the new ball as well. Kuldeep is a wrist spinner, he’s going to be lethal with any help from the pitch. It was his one over that turned it for us because England was taking it away before that. He’s very difficult to pick and his wrong ‘un hasn’t been easy and I hope he can keep working on it.”

The Indian skipper also went on to add that he feels the need to constantly do something on the field as he can’t be someone who’s standing on the field doing nothing, He always needs a reason to get pumped up when he was playing for the country and sometimes that boils over, but it’s not that he always go bonkers.

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Kohli further praised Rahul on his innings as he said: “Rahul has come a long way; especially the way he’s been batting since the IPL and in that one game in Ireland – so clean and crisp. We want guys like him to step up. We don’t want to be one-dimensional, we want people going up and down the order. He’s got a great technique, great temperament and is very hungry and today he was a bit emotional because the last century he scored was against England in Chennai and it’s been that long he’s been waiting for. It was a great century and a great sign for Indian cricket.”