T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli denies feeling of overconfidence in the Indian camp before facing Pakistan

India's 12-game undefeated streak against Pakistan in World Cup history has come to a sad end. Not only were they crushed by Shaheen Afridi with a storming spell in the Powerplay, but the bowling attack also looked completely toothless and failed to pick up a single wicket.

Pakistan ended up dismantling Virat Kohli's side by 10 wickets with Afridi, Babar, and Rizwan leading the charge. Afridi set the stage with his quick dismissals of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, and although India led by its captain put up a stubborn resistance to get past 150, it didn't prove to be nearly enough. The Men in Blue needed quick dismissals in the powerplay but they failed to get even a sniff of the wickets of Babar Azam (68* off 52) and Mohammad Rizwan (79* off 55) and ended up suffering a humiliation.

Although the media circus that usually surrounds an India-Pakistan encounter was effervescent as usual, captain of the team Virat Kohli denied any claims of India taking their opponents lightly in this much-anticipated encounter. India had won all of their T20 World Cup fixtures against Pakistan prior to this game.

"You don't go out there to take anything lightly, especially a team like Pakistan who, on their day, can beat anyone in the world. This is a game that has to be respected and we are a team that definitely does that. We do not think that winning one game is the end of the world and no other team should think that. This is a very big game.

"Cricket is beyond and above anyone else and any individual. We definitely respect the game. We never take any opposition lightly, nor do we differentiate between oppositions. That's how we play our cricket. On the day, if we haven't played good (cricket), we accept it, and we give credit to the opposition as well," he explained in the post-match media interaction.

Kohli also heaped immense praise on Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi for his magnificent spell up top. The 32-year-old walked out to bat after opener Rohit Sharma got caught LBW on a golden duck to Afridi in the opening over. Kohli then witnessed his strike partner lose the bail between his leg-stump and middle-stump to the left-arm pacer.

The Indian captain looked to be the only batter in good nick today and managed to get to a half-century after playing a captain's innings. However, in the dying embers of the innings, just as Virat started to change gears and looked to accelerate, he holed one behind to Mohammad Rizwan after being taken by surprise with a short ball from Shaheen Afridi.

"He did bowl pretty well. He hit the right areas to pick up wickets. In T20 cricket, you need good execution to take wickets with the new ball and he certainly did that. Credit to him, he put out batsmen under pressure immediately with the new ball. He ran in with intensity and bowled in consistent areas. As batsmen, we were forced to be a bit watchful. That spell, kind of, put up on the back foot immediately. From there on, to get those extra 20-25 runs, seemed pretty difficult after we lost three wickets early."

In the toss ahead of the game, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bowl first. In his statement explaining why he mentioned that dew could play a crucial role in this game. Virat Kohli, too said that he planned to bowl first but would be content with setting the total. When asked after the game whether dew had played a role in the second innings, he said, "I wouldn't say that it became very difficult but if the pitch becomes a little better to bat on and you get off to a start, then you start feeling more confident about your chase. The moment you came in towards the second half of the Pakistan innings, they were able to rotate the strike.

"We were not even able to get dot balls in because the wicket was obviously providing a bit more pace for the batsmen to work with. The slower balls were not holding up as much. Yes, the toss is definitely going to be a factor in this tournament, especially if the dew keeps creeping in during the latter half of the game. You need those extra runs in the first half," concluded Kohli.