The Indian cricket team began their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign with a comprehensive victory over Ireland in New York on Wednesday. Ireland were bundled out for just 96 following a brilliant bowling display from the India pacers and skipper Rohit Sharma slammed a brilliant half-century to make short of the target. India looked in control of the match from the very start and at one point, a section of the crowd starting chanting for Rohit to give Kohli an over to bowl. In a video going viral on social media, the crowd can be heard chanting ‘Kohli ko bowling do (Bring on Kohli for bowling)’ during the match.

The video also showed Kohli fielding at deep mid-wicket but he did not react to the chants.

“Kohli Ko Bowling Do” Chants in New Yorkpic.twitter.com/FnIUv5WN1X

— Virat Kohli Fan Club (@Trend_VKohli) June 6, 2024

“Yeah, just a little sore (the arm). I said it at the toss as well. Quite unsure of what to expect from the pitch. Not aware on what it is to play like on a pitch that’s five months old. I don’t think the wicket settled down even when we batted second. There was enough for the bowlers. That’s pretty much what you gotta do. Try to hit those lengths consistently. All these guys have played a lot of Test cricket.”

“Arshdeep is the only guy who hasn’t. His two wickets upfront set the tone for us. Don’t think we can play four spinners here (laughs). When we picked the team, we wanted to have the balance. If conditions are there for seamers, we wanted to have that. Spin will play a part later on. Today was a four-seamer pitch and we still managed to get two spinners who are allrounders. I don’t know what to expect from the pitch to be honest. We will prepare as if the conditions are going to be like this (for Pakistan game).”

“This is going to be a kind of game where all XI of us will need to contribute. It was scratchy, but good to spend some time in the middle and understand what kind of shots to play there,” Rohit said.