Kohli leads 296 chase with record 55th century

Virat Kohli: [On reaching 15,000 ODI runs] My focus has never really been on these milestones. It's just understanding the situation along the course of just doing the job for the team. Achievements come along. Obviously, I feel very grateful and very blessed to be in this position, having played for so long. And yeah, just keeping my head down, working hard, and thanking God for everything that I've been blessed with and the opportunities that I've gotten in my life to be where I am. We have a very blessed life and a blessed journey because so many people want to be here, but we get to be the lucky ones. So, we better put our head down and just work hard every day of our lives.

[On his batting and consistency]: I think just the understanding of the game firstly, also at the stage that I'm at, you know, just keeping myself physically very fit, because the game's more or less in the mind. I've never been a guy who practiced a lot, even when I was playing all three formats, as you know. So it's just for me about staying mentally fresh, staying in the present moment and just expressing myself really out there to play in a certain way, get used to this template more often. I've got a challenge at this stage of my career to kind of up the ante and play a gear or two higher, and yeah, that was exciting for me to work on. Again, it excites you when you have to unlock a new version at this stage of your career, which will eventually help any team that you play for, be it playing for India or in the IPL. It's really helped me a lot to play with a free mind, and I think that's what's working for me. But I think to follow a free mind, you need a fit body. So for me it works the other way around. I stay physically fit and then I'm able to visualize the game in the way that I want to play, which allows me the best chance to go out there and execute in the way that I did tonight.

[On his head space at this stage]: I'm just very grateful and happy, to be honest. Like, you know, it's... I think the only thing we need to do is just look back once and, you know, where we came from. That's something that we tend to forget when we are caught up with the hustle of the world and the positions we get into with so much attention and fame and so much love from the fans. It can be very easy to forget where you came from. But I think just looking back at the journey from when you started as a child just makes you feel grateful. I enjoy each and every minute that I'm out there playing for India, because I understand that, as I said, I could have been a possibility that I wouldn't be standing here. I wouldn't have played for India at all. That could have been my reality as well. But I'm getting to live all these amazing moments representing my country, playing in front of such big crowds and doing the job for the team. As a cricket player, this is all that I dreamt of, and I'm getting it. So I have nothing but gratitude in my heart, and, as I said, I just want to put my head down, keep working hard, put a smile on my face, and hopefully make other people smile too.

[On message to young players]: It's a fact which we don't want to face as athletes, that even if everything ends after this game, you have to play the way you want to play the game. And I think you have to remind yourself that every time you go out to play. That unlocks that positivity, that taking a risk, that unlocks that mindset which helps you to win games for your team. That's the only advice I would give to the young guys: don't think a lot about all the other stuff outside of the field. Once you enter the ground, this is everything, and it should be everything for you guys. And just put your body on the line. As I said, put your head down. If you have to run four doubles in an over when you're batting at 150, you have to do it. There's no excuses. So if they play like that, then you should be fine.

Well, it (toss) doesn't really matter now, does it? We'd have probably batted today. [On the preparation] It's been a quick turnaround for us. We play a lot of cricket, different format from CPL, but it's been going pretty well. I think the guys have been playing some good cricket in the last couple of years, just about for us now to come to India and try to replicate that. [On playing against a strong Indian team in India] Yeah, for sure, and something I always mention, we want to play against the best teams in the world, and no better place to do it here in India. So I think the guys are really looking forward to this challenge. [What will it take to beat India?] Really, a big score on the board. We've got to make sure we put a big score on the board. It's very good conditions here in India to bat, usually tends to get a little bit better actually in the evening time. So a good start with the bat and hopefully we can finish it off with the ball. This is probably the closest thing to the Caribbean here in Trivandrum. So I think the guys will be happy with the start we got here. Just looking forward to this series here and hopefully get a good start. [On the combination] We've got five bowlers: one all-rounder, three seam and two spin. So hopefully that combination is the right one for us today.

Click here to read article