India's star batter Virat Kohli had a few words of comfort for seamer Arshdeep Singh, who dropped a sitter of Pakistan batter, Asif Ali, during the 18th over of the Asia Cup Super 4 clash between both teams on Sunday.
With the game evenly balanced, many believe Arshdeep’s mistake at that point cost India the match as Pakistan raced home to victory with five wickets and one ball to spare.
Leaving aside the drop, Arshdeep otherwise had a decent day with the ball as he finished with figures of 1/27 from 3.5 overs. Following India's loss, the 23-year-old seamer found support from one of his senior teammates - Virat Kohli.
"Under pressure, anyone can make a mistake. It's a big match and the situation was tight. I remember when I first played in the Champions Trophy. Against Pakistan, I remember I hit a very bad shot off Shahid Afridi. Till 5 am next morning, I was only staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep,” Kohli said during the post-match press conference.
"I thought I'll never get a game again, my career is over. So it's natural to feel like this. When the team environment is good then you learn from it and when such an opportunity comes up again, you look forward to it, hoping the ball comes to you,” the former captain recalled.
Kohli further credited the team management led by coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma in creating a secure environment for the players, especially the young ones.
"I think I'd credit the management and captain for that team environment. They've created such an environment that the players feel if such an opportunity comes up again, we want it, that moment," he added.
Despite the loss, Kohli’s 60 off 44 balls remained the only silver lining in India’s display against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday. The 33-year-old hit two back-to-back fifties in the Asia Cup so far and is the second highest run-scorer in the tournament with 154 runs from three matches.
India will next play Sri Lanka on 6 September and the team would be hopeful that their star batter continues his good form.
(With inputs from PTI)
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