NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli shared the struggles he faced during the T20 World Cup tournament with Prime Minister Modi. Team India met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence on July 4 after returning to India with the World Cup trophy.
He says that he was disappointed with his performance in the T20 World Cup 2024 tournament before the final. His poor performance also affected his confidence in the last few matches. “I was not able to make the contributions that I wanted to make. At one point, I told Rahul bhai, ‘I haven’t done justice to myself and the team so far.’ He said, ‘When the situation arises, I trust that you will perform,'” Kohli said.
He says that Indian team coach Rahul Dravid shows trust in him and said, “When the situation arises, I trust that you will perform.”
Virat Kohli won the Man of the Match title by scoring 76 runs off 59 balls in the World Cup final match. He said, “I am just happy that I was able to contribute in this big match after hard times.”
Reflecting on the final match and his experience on the ground, he said, “When we went in to play in the final, and I got three boundaries in the first four balls, I told Rohit, ‘What a game this is. One day you feel you won’t be able to score a single run, and the next day, everything falls into place and good things happen.'”
Kohli said he learnt to keep his ego aside from this tournament, “I realized when you feel you can do anything, your ego takes over and the game pulls away from you. I had to keep my ego aside. The situation was such that I had to set aside my pride for the team. When you respect the game, it respects you. That’s what I experienced.”
“When wickets fell early, I understood that I had to surrender to the situation for the team. The only thing I was focusing on was what’s necessary for the team,” he added.
Kohli says he later realized that it was somehow bound to happen. “I was put into that situation where I had to overcome that overconfidence and arrogance. Whatever is supposed to happen, happens. It was bound to happen to me and the team (title win). From the situation, we won the final and we lived every single delivery towards the end. From the point where the final turned around. What was going through us, we cannot explain,” Kohli said.
The PM hosted the T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team for breakfast, and later, Team India did a victory parade with the trophy in the dream city of Mumbai.