Saying Virat Kohli is going through a purple patch could be an understatement. After all, his teammate Yuvraj Singh exclaimed that Kohli was in the form of his life since ages when he was asked about his rich vein of form. Rightly so, there has hardly been a blip in his performance, never a moment when you felt he was out of sorts. On a day when runs were there for the taking, he would take them with both hands, and on days when they were tough to come by, he would grind it out, understand the situation, tweak his game accordingly and come out trumps at the end of it. A stronger, fitter, mature and mentally fresher Kohli was a result of an assessment and understanding of his own game that was only yielding him good results. “I am happy I am contributing at the right times for the team,” Virat told BCCI.TV after helping India to a series win in the Asia Cup final. “There were a lot of speculations about me when I took rest for the tour against Sri Lanka. There were all sorts of articles and things written about me questioning whether it was a right move to rest at that point of time. There was a lot of negativity around that decision that was made, but I knew that mentally I needed a break and needed to refresh myself and comeback and do the same thing over and over again. “Good habits are really hard to create and once you get them, you need to be in full flow and continue them day in and day out. I think that break really helped me focus again and continue what I did in Australia. I am really glad I could contribute in all the games here.” While batting, under that helmet, is a thinking brain that’s analyzing every move of the opposition on the field, calculating the field angles, the gaps and also the amount of power that needs to be thrust into each shot. Kohli delved into details of his assessment of field settings and the importance of the same while batting. “It is very important to assess the field,” he began to explain. “I have seen people mark fielders on the ground and I never understood why till I actually started paying attention to these minute details. As a batsman, you actually calculate how far you can hit the ball from the fielder. If you hit it really well, even 10 meters is good enough distance to beat the fielder even if the fielder moves sideways or has some kind of lateral movement on the field. “It is very important to judge where the fielders are so that you can pick your gaps and execute what you want to. You have a clearer plan when you know where the fielders are and you can hit the ball in the gaps rather than just taking a risk and trying to hit over the line. Hitting the ball over the line is a chance you take, but once you are hitting the gaps, it is very important to know where the fielder is standing.” The cricketing know-how believes that it is a very mature game that Kohli is playing at the moment. Even captain MS Dhoni was in awe of Kohli’s ability to read situations to perfection. Sunday night was one such example when Kohli, who would often take center stage, understood when to play second fiddle. “I knew that I am hitting the ball pretty well, so I just needed to stick in there. My job was to hang in there and let Shikhar Dhawan do what he does best which is to attack the bowlers. I think that is where a little bit of experience counts where you understand the situation. You realise that once a guy is going really good at the other end, you just rotate the strike and hit the odd boundary in between so that he doesn’t feel pressure. “I think Shikhar played himself in really nicely. My only aim was to keep going at the other end so that the run-rate doesn’t stop. I had to understand my role. Once Shikhar got towards the end of his innings, I hit two or three boundaries which released pressure for us. Then MS Dhoni came in and did what he does best. He is the best finisher in the world. All in all, it was a wonderful game.” Elaborating further on the importance of Dhawan’s match-winning innings, Kohli said, “Shikhar is someone who always strikes the ball really well and it is just a matter of one innings for him and you can see what he can do once he gets into form. We saw that in the World Cup last year where his run of form was unbelievable. He is a big match player.We are banking on him in the T20 World Cup. He has played really well in the IPL, he knows all the grounds and the angles, conditions and the pitches and he has played against all the bowlers from all the teams. I am really happy with his Man of the Match performance. It was absolutely wonderful batting from him and I am glad to see that he took the team to a situation from where we could not lose. Hats off to him for the way he played.” India are carrying with them some serious T20 form into the T20 World Cup. The batsmen are firing well and the bowlers with a mix of youth and experience, have put up notable performances of late. Virat believed the team was in good stead ahead of the ICC World T20. “It is important that everyone stays confident and everyone stays in form. Last few games we saw Yuvraj Singh playing crucial knocks. Suresh Raina is always a dangerous player in T20 cricket, Rohit Sharma has been magnificent and MS Dhoni knows his job more than anyone else. Hardik Pandya is a beautiful striker and now Shikhar is back in form. I am striking it decently as well. Everyone going into the T20 World cup is feeling good and confident and hopefully we can keep things simple and continue this winning momentum forward. The boys have played some really good cricket and it has been wonderful to be a part of such magnificent run of form for the whole team.”