IND vs NZ, 1st ODI: Virat Kohli reflects on his knock, reveals who gets to keep his Player of the match awards

India played the first ODI against New Zealand at BCA Stadium, Kotambi in Vadodara. Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bowl first – this was the first time in years that India won two consecutive tosses in ODIs. Batting first New Zealand posted a total of 300 runs with Devon Conway (56), Henry Nicholls (62) and Daryl Mitchell (84) emerging as the top batters.

Coming in to bat at number three Virat Kohli once again opted for an aggressive approach and smashed half-century following which Gill also came over his rough patch and smashed a calm fifty. When Gill got dismissed at 56, Shreyas Iyer came to bat and displayed his lethal form by smashing consistent boundaries. One of the major milestones that Virat Kohli achieved in this match was – that he completed 28,000 international runs.

Virat Kohli settled the innings and was batting at the score of 93 when he was caught by MichaeL Bracewell and dismissed by Kyle Jamieson – a valiant knock just short of a century. After the match, Virat Kohli received the striker of the match and then he also received the player of the match award, following which he reflected on his innings.

“I send all the trophies to my mum” Virat after picking his 45th Player of the Match award.

“Honestly if I look back at my journey its nothing short of a dream come true and I have worked more to get to the place where I am at. I look back at my journey with lot of grace and gratitude.”

“The way I am playing right now, I am not thinking about the milestones and right now I am feeling like I want to hit more boundaries, get team in a winning position.”

“Well the basic idea is I bat at number 3 and I try to counter attack now so there is no pointing waiting around for too long.”