M Chinnaswamy Stadium is a chasing ground and Virat Kohli knows all about it. He understands the conditions, he understands his bowlers and yet, when he won the toss, he elected to bat first. During the toss, he said he was deliberately batting first in order to build a side for the T20 World Cup.
He had packed his team with batsmen and wanted them to go at full throttle. However, after a brisk start, the middle-order caved in and India could only register a mediocre score - a score which never challenged Quinton de Kock as he led South Africa's charge to knock India down by nine wickets.
However, the captain did not question his decision bat first.
'We have to take risks'
"Look, we will have to take risks. Even when you want to win a game of cricket you have to take risks, so nothing is a given, nothing is a guarantee before you start playing," Kohli said at the post-match press conference.
The captain also said that he wants to take toss out of the equation as they could face any situation at the World Cup. He also challenged his side to get out of their comfort zone and take risks.
He wanted his side to be ready to do anything and not make up their mind to only accept a particular scenario.
"Mentally, if we put ourselves in a situation where we are ready to do anything rather than wanting to do one thing, we will be in a better position as a side to capitalise on any situation that we are in," the skipper said.
Never one to mince his words, the skipper said that he wants the players to be able to take risks and be prepared to tackle situations head-on.
"Unless you do that, unless you start taking those risks, you are always going to be put under somewhere or the other. We want to make sure that we iron all those out before we head into the World Cup," the right-hander added.
