The previous highest successful run chase for India in a T20I was the 207 against Sri Lanka in Mohali in 2009.
India, thus, took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The second T20I will be played in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
Rahul and Kohli shared 100 runs for the second wicket to lay the platform for the victory. Kohli hit six fours and as many sixes during his innings.
After hitting Kesrick Williams for a six in the 16th over, the fired up Indian captain also used his bat as an imaginary notebook to “tick” the bowler’s name off. Kohli later said that he remembered Williams doing the same in Jamaica when the Indian team was there for a tour.
“It happened to me in Jamaica when he got me out. So I thought I’ll tick a few in the notebook as well, but all good. There were a few words, but smiles in the end,” Kohli said.
“That’s what you want to see. Good competitive cricket, but in the end handshakes and high-fives. That’s what cricket is all about. Play it hard but have respect for opponents.”
Kohli said while chasing a big total, there were a lot of distractions with the scoreboard pressure, but after playing a few dots, he began to settle down and got himself into shape to play the shots.
“All the young batsmen watching don’t follow the first half of my innings. That was really bad and I was trying to hit too hard,” he said with a smile.
While Kohli’s first 20 runs came off 20 balls, the remaining 74 were scored off 30 balls.
“It was just about keeping up to the game because I didn’t want to put KL under pressure, so tried to strike at 140 at least, but I couldn’t get going properly. I analysed what went wrong and played accordingly in the second half of my innings. I was trying to hold my shape and realised I am not a slogger, so tried to rely on my timing.”
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said that his side did not execute the plans properly.
“A total of 208 to defend, on any day, you’d take that 10 out of 10 times. Where we lost the game was the extras and our bowling. Our execution was poor. If we had executed the plans we had spoken about, despite the good batting wicket, it would have been a different scenario,” he said.
“There are two areas in any game, and with the bat the guys were exceptional. There are a lot of positives to take from this game. (Shimron) Hetmyer and (Evin) Lewis got back among the runs and that was quite satisfying, but we need to do the all-round basics right. Hopefully I have an idea of when to come up the order as a captain, and in a pressure situation, it’s important to push yourself and it’s a pleasure to perform for your team any day and get them across the line.”
Hetmyer made 56 off 41 balls which was studded with two boundaries and four hits over the fence to hold the West Indies from one end after being sent into bat. He first added 37 runs with Brandon King (31 off 23 balls) and then shared 71 runs with Pollard (37 off 19 balls) to lay the base for the West Indies total.
The Indians were far from impressive, as Washington Sundar and Rohit Sharma dropped catches. Sundar (1/34) leaked runs in the first over before Deepak Chahar (1/56) gave India the breakthrough.
Virat Kohli was at his aggressive best on Friday and Kesrick Williams got a taste of it. In the 13th over of the Indian innings, Virat and Kesrick almost collided in the middle of the pitch and the India captain didn’t like that. In the 16th over, Virat first hit Kesrick for a four and then followed it up with a flicked six. It was then that Kohli unleashed a ‘notebook celebration’ — Kesrick’s signature move after taking a wicket — to mock the West Indian bowler. Asked about it during the post-match presentation ceremony, a smiling Kohli said: “It happened to me in Jamaica when he got me out. So I thought I’ll tick a few in the notebook as well. But all’s good, there were a few words, but smiles at the end. That’s what you want to see.” (Pictures: PTI/Twitter)
Virat Kohli on Friday said that he’s not a player who hits the ball in the air to entertain the crowd but someone who wants to do his job and win matches for the country.
Kohli, who struck a career-best 94 not out off 50 balls in India’s six-wicket win over the West Indies in the first T20I, said he does not want to play slam-bang cricket even in the game’s shortest format.
“Whenever I play T20 cricket I am not someone who comes to the ground to hit the ball in the air to entertain the crowd. I focus on doing the job. Our strength as a team is to strike in the latter half of the innings,” Kohli said after the match.
“I don’t want to change my game too much because I play all three formats. I just want to contribute in all three formats, that’s what I want to do. I don’t want to be a format specialist.”
The India captain stamped his class along with KL Rahul, who struck an impressive 62 off just 40 balls to help India chase down the target of 208 with eight balls to spare.
