Former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli has come forward in support of the young Indian seamer, Arshdeep Singh after his dropped catch proved to be the turning point in the match against Pakistan on Sunday. Chasing a par score of 182 runs to win, Pakistan looked to be in a spot of bother after the men in blue pegged them back after Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Nawaz’ partnership.
In the 18th over, needing 34 runs, Asif Ali attempted a sweep shot off Ravi Bishnoi and it seemed like he would be returning to the pavilion. However, Singh failed to complete the catch and Ali survived to bring back the game in Pakistan’s favor. The 23-year-old India pacer was given the task of defending seven runs in the final over and he was unable to do so as Pakistan won the match by five wickets.
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After the match, Arshdeep Singh was subjected to a lot of criticism from fans on social media. However, Kohli has now jumped to the defense of the 23-year-old bowler. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Virat Kohli said that anyone can make such a mistake during a high-pressure match and also gave a personal example from his first Champions Trophy assignment.
Former Indian skipper also said that the cricketers will need to learn from their mistakes and should be looking forward to performing under pressure once again.
Explaining the same, Virat Kohli said, “Anyone can make the mistake, the situation was tight. It was a high-pressure game and mistakes can happen. I still remember I was playing my first Champions Trophy and the match was against Pakistan, I had played a very bad shot against Shahid Afridi.”
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He further explained, “I was watching the ceiling till 5 am, I was not able to sleep and I thought my career is over but these things are natural. Seniors players get around you, there is a good team environment right now, I give the credit to the captain and coach. The players learn from their mistakes. So one must accept his mistake, address it and look forward to being in that pressure situation once again.”
India will now be locking horns with Sri Lanka in their next match on 6th September.
