India captain Virat Kohli was quite pleased that the concussion substitute rule worked out well for his side even though there were no plans to play Yuzvendra Chahal, who proved to be a match-winner after replacing Ravindra Jadeja in the first T20I.
“There were no plans of having Yuzi (Chahal) in the game. Jaddu (Jadeja) got a knock on the side of the head and was a bit dizzy and still is,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
“Concussion replacements are a strange thing, today it worked for us maybe another time he wouldn’t have found a like-for-like,” he added.
Kohli was full of praise for all his players but singled out Jadeja and Chahal for their efforts.
“He (Chahal) came in and bowled really well. The pitch offered him enough. Yuzi showed character to squeeze the opponents,” he said.
“In Australia, you need to play hard and show intensity till the end. He (Jadeja) batted beautifully in the last game. Natarajan looks like he can improve a lot. (Deepak) Chahar bowled well as well. Chahal got us back in the game. Hardik’s catch was a game-changer as well.”
Man-of-the-moment Chahal said having not made the original playing eleven, there was no pressure on him when he came on as a concussion substitute.
“There was no pressure for me when we were batting and then suddenly I got to know I was going to play. I have played so many games so I was mentally fit,” he said.