Virat Kohli reveals how MS Dhoni's advice helped India win decider against New Zealand

New Delhi, Nov 8: India skipper Virat Kohli impressed all with his bold captaincy moves in the third and deciding Twenty20 international against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram which the hosts came out victorious.

Match Scorecard

While defending a target of 67 in the rain-truncated match that was reduced to 8-overs per side, Kohli surprised all with his bowling changes and fielding placements.

The skipper was particularly hailed for using his most lethal weapon Jasprit Bumrah in the penultimate over of the match. Kohli introduced Bumrah in the seventh over when New Zealand required 29 runs from 12 deliveries, but the young pacer once again bowled well and conceded just 10 runs.

The visitors required 19 to win in the final over but they could only aggregate 13 runs from that over from Hardik Pandya and lost the match by 6 runs.

When asked about his strategy to use Bumrah in the seventh over Kohli revealed the idea came from one of the best cricketing brains in the side. Kohli, during the post-match presentation, revealed his predecessor MS Dhoni advised him to use Bumrah.

"We thought if we can take the run-rate up, it's not going to be so easy. Rohit and MS (Dhoni) came up with Bumrah bowling the second last, and Hardik Pandya bowled the last over well. When Hardik got hurt, I was thinking god forbid if I had to bowl the last four balls," said Kohli.

Bumrah returned with the figures of 2/9 from his quota of 2 overs and was named the Man of the Match for his clinical show. He got the wicket of dangerous Colin Munro in the first over. He got rid of Henry Nicholls in his second over.

Kohli also said having to bat on bowler-friendly conditions made his side "nervous" after losing the toss.

"I think we were really happy to get a game. This crowd deserved to watch some action. Ever since the ODIs started, we expected them to give a good fight. We were nervous to start here, with the damp pitch," said Kohli.

"We have won a few on the trot and it makes us very proud. This stadium is beautiful, the outfield wonderful and the crowd made it special. I am surprised there were no games here earlier," he added.