Virat Kohli speaks on that Pakan innings, Haris Rauf over and Rahul Dravid’s forgotten words

Virat Kohli was recently asked questions on his innings against Pakan at the T20 World Cup in Melbourne, and the former Indian skipper admitted that his mind had shut off after one point and he was in auto mode during the game.
Kohli, who was under fire at the time for his form in the T20s, came into the match filled with pressure, and the situation India found themselves in, didn’t help. In his own words, Kohli describes it saying, “I still can’t make any sense of it. That’s a very honest admission. And a lot of people have tried to ask me what were you thinking, how did you plan and I have no answers. The fact of the matter is that I was so much under pressure that my mind had shut off completely the 12th or 13th over.
“I was going through what I was going through, then I came back in the Asia Cup and I was playing well and I felt like ‘Wow I’m ready to play in this World Cup’. At the 10th over mark, we were 31 for 4 and I had just ran Axar out. I was 12 off 25 balls, or something. I remember in the break, Rahul bhai came to me and I don’t remember what he said. I swear and I even told him this as well. I told him, ‘I have no idea what you told me in that break because I was zoned out’,” said Kohli at a Puma event.
On instinct, Kohli took over, shepherding India to the finish line against Pakan. He stood tall especially in that pivotal over against Haris Rauf where two special sixes were launched and changed the course of the match keeping India in the chase.

“My mind was spinning so fast…I was like this is worse than it was before. I had spiralled down so far down that there is no comeback from here and that was my honest feeling at the halfway mark. That is when my instinct took over. So, when I stopped thinking and planning, whatever God-given talent I have that came to the surface and then I felt like something higher was guiding me. I can’t claim any of that. I was trying to do it before as well but it wasn’t working. The lesson for me was stop using your mind so much because it actually pushes you away from real magic. What happened that night, I can never explain it and it won’t happen ever again,” said Kohli.