“I was a bit nervous heading into the game ” – Virat Kohli recalls playing his first World Cup match

India’s talisman Virat Kohli recalled that he was a bit nervous before playing his first World Cup match. Kohli played his maiden World Cup game against Bangladesh at Dhaka in the 2011 World Cup. It was also the first match of the tournament and India went on to win that contest by 87 runs.

Virender Sehwag scored a magnum opus knock of 175 runs off just 140 balls whereas Kohli scored 100 runs off 83 balls. Sehwag and Kohli added 203 runs for the third wicket as India posted a gargantuan total of 370 runs on the board.

Speaking to Star Sports, Kohli said, “It was against Bangladesh in Dhaka, my first game and I was nervous. Yes, I will not lie. There is a different sense of excitement in the air when you come for a World Cup and I could obviously sense that. I was the youngest member of that team and I was getting to play with all these greats of Indian cricket in a World Cup game.”

“For me, it was definitely a moment where I was a bit nervous heading into the game and definitely the night before I was quite nervous but that is a good sign as well because your body is preparing you to enter a situation where you’re alert, you’re not taking things for granted. I think that nervousness helped me to be aware, be alert and be absolutely precise in the execution of my plans,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer wants Kohli to open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli was once again at his absolute best for RCB, scoring 741 runs in 15 innings at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69 in IPL 2024 as an opener. Kohli ended the tournament as the highest run-getter and bagged the Orange Cap award. Thus, he played an instrumental role in taking RCB to the playoffs.

Jaffer wrote on X, “Kohli & Jaiswal should open in the World Cup imo. Rohit & SKY should bat 3&4 depending on the start we get. Rohit plays spin really well so batting at 4 shouldn’t be a concern.”

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5th.