Netherlands captain Scott Edwards does not want Virat Kohli to repeat his 'surreal show against Pakistan' when they take on India in their 2022 T20 World Cup game in Perth on Thursday. Edwards, who is a Melbourne local before migrating to The Netherlands, doesn't have any expectations from his side but wants his teammates to play their best brand of cricket.
"What Virat (Kohli) did the other day was surreal. Hope he doesn't repeat it against us. Not many people expect us to win, so not too much pressure on us. Our brand of cricket means performing to the best of our ability. Just bring our A-game. If it's enough it's enough. If it's not," Edwards said at the pre-match media conference on Wednesday.
Talking about the opportunity of playing India at a global event like the T20 World Cup, Edwards said, "Huge. You always dream of playing World Cup and against arguably one of best teams in the world is surreal," said Edwards, who is also disappointed that the ICC has stopped the ODI Super League, which provided them with a decent number of games.
"Obviously disappointing that ODI Super League not coming ahead. We had cricket on Dutch TV which was good exposure for us," Edwards added.
Virat Kohli displayed glimpses of his best form as he lit up the MCG with his 85 runs off 53 balls to give India the victory against Pakistan. With the Men in Blue needing 28 runs in their last eight balls, Kohli, along with Hardik Pandya and then Ravichandran Ashwin, got the job done with three sixes, including one beyond-believable hit against Haris Rauf in the 19th over.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands, who qualified from Round 1 along with Sri Lanka, lost their first match in the Super 12 round against Bangladesh by the closest of margins. After restricting Bangladesh to 144 runs, the Netherlands nearly pulled off an upset but they fell nine runs short of the total.