New Delhi, July 4: India captain Virat Kohli has praised all-rounder Hardik Pandya for performing exceptionally well under pressure in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Team India took a massive gamble in the match against Bangladesh in Birmingham as they played with five regular bowlers, with Pandya performing the duties of the fifth bowler.

When asked about his bold move to go with such a bowling attack against Bangladesh, Kohli said, "We experienced that Hardik, when put under pressure has, come back really well in this tournament..."

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"He finds a way to contain the runs and get you wickets. He's really looking forward to do stuff for the team, that's really helping his cricket."

Pandya, failed with the bat against Bangladesh as he was dismissed for a golden duck, but came back strongly with the ball as he returned with three wickets.

Pandya bagged the big wickets of Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das and helped India win the match by 28 runs.

Heaping praise on Pandya, the Indian captain further said that the Baroda cricketer thinks like a batsman and that helps him assess the conditions well.

"When he comes to bowl, he thinks like a batsman," Kohli said. "He actually wants the ball under pressure because he thinks like a batter, so he can check their body language and know what to bowl and when. He's bowling really well for us."

Pandya has had a good tournament so far with the bat as well as with the ball. He has scored 187 runs in 7 innings at a strike rate of 138.52 and picked up 8 wickets in the tournament so far.

Earlier, India's bowling coach Bharat Arun had explained how much Pandya evolved to fit the fifth bowler's role.

"It was a big challenge for him to bowl those 10 overs, and he realised that to be able to bowl those 10 overs I need to develop a certain armoury in my bowling'," Arun said in Manchester last month.

"And that's what he's worked on. He's worked on his slow balls, his slow bouncers, and he's also worked on perfecting his bouncers."

"All these put together have given him the confidence to go through those 10 overs."

Team India will now face neighbours Sri Lanka in their final league match of the tournament.