India World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskar hailed Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli for his match-winning knock against Australia in Chennai on Sunday. The former Indian skipper batted exceedingly well in tricky conditions to help the Men in Blue come over the top of the five-time ODI champions.

Team India needed to get 200 runs on a challenging Chennai surface after losing three quick wickets in the game against the Australian pacers before Virat Kohli and KL Rahul applied themselves in the powerplay and the middle overs of the game to help the team secure a first victory in the marquee event.

Speaking to India Today, Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on Virat Kohli for absorbing pressure in the crunch moment of the game and feels that the star batter has cashed in on the opportunity provided by Mitchell Marsh at the start of the innings.

“He relishes pressure and does not want easy runs. When you’re under pressure, all your runs are valuable. So relishing the pressure is one of the most important aspects. There’s no batter who doesn’t need a bit of luck at the start of the innings,” Gavaskar said.

“But once that luck comes your way, you’ve got to cash in on it and he is very good at it. I’m actually surprised that he got out at 85 because if there’s one batter who knows how to get a hundred, it’s Kohli,” Sunil Gavaskar further elaborated.

Virat Kohli was dropped on 12, which may have caused India’s run chase to suffer significantly.

However, Kohli made the most of this opportunity and went on to play an important knock. He established his status as one of the top chasers in white-ball cricket by scoring 85 runs off 116 balls.

The Confidence Level Will Go Up, So Other Teams Will Have To Watch Out – Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar feels that India’s victory over Australia would give them huge confidence. He asserted that the Men in Blue had played a well-rounded cricket in the opening game and warned the other teams to watch out for India in the tournament.

“What India has shown is that they can recover even with backs on their wall. The fightback that we saw was the most impressive. It was a total all-rounder performance, a very good performance by India. The confidence level will go up. So other teams will have to watch out,” Sunil Gavaskar added.

Team India survived a scare to maintain their winning streak in World Cup opening games, and they will face Afghanistan in Delhi on October 11.