'At 36, it takes a lot out of me': Virat Kohli feels his age after guiding India to famous win against Pakistan

Virat Kohli made a candid admission, saying it now takes a lot out of him to maintain the intensity and keep doing the hard yards day in and day out.

Virat Kohli put on a masterclass against arch-rivals Pakistan, hitting an unbeaten 100 to help India register a comprehensive six-wicket win with 45 balls to spare in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium. After the match, Kohli made a candid admission, saying it now gets tougher for him to maintain the intensity and keep doing the hard yards day in and day out.

Virat Kohli made a candid admission, saying it now takes a lot out of him to maintain the intensity. (AFP)

Kohli, 36, said he is now looking forward to India's one-week off. Rohit Sharma and co. will play their last group-stage match against New Zealand on Sunday, March 2. The right-hander said that he will make the most of the week-long break that awaits.

Kohli completed his 51st ODI century off 111 balls with the help of seven fours as India gunned down 242 with relative ease. Kohli looked like the world-beater he has always been as he unleashed his aesthetic cover drives. The running between the wicket was top-notch, with Kohli shutting the doors on a potential Pakistan comeback.

"A week off, is it a good thing or otherwise? To be honest, at 36, it's very good. I don't know about the 23-24 year olds, but for me, it's really, really good. I just need to put my feet up for two days because it takes a lot out of me now to keep putting that kind of effort on the field, and I'm just thankful we have a bit of time off now," Kohli said after receiving the Player of the Match award.

Kohli was struggling for runs as he entered the contest against Pakistan. Left-arm spin proved to be his nemesis, and in the last six games, Kohli had lost his wicket to slow bowlers in ODIs.

However, he decided to step up against Pakistan, and there was no looking back. "It feels good to be able to back in that manner in an important game where we wanted to seal our qualification into the semis and to contribute in a situation like that where we kind of lost early, and then we had to string in a partnership, took the learnings from the last game that we played, the conditions, the understanding of how to go about things."

"My job was pretty clear to control the middle overs, to try and go after the seam bowlers and not take too many risks against the spinners but keep rotating strike, and once we strung in a nice partnership, then towards the end, I think Shreyas accelerated, and I got a few boundaries away as well, but yeah, it was more or less the way I play ODI cricket so I was happy with the template," he added.

'Have decent understanding of my game'

Kohli also said he is not bothered about the pressure of the contests between India and Pakistan as he is very well aware of his own game.

"I have a decent understanding of my game over the years. For me, it's just about keeping the outside noise and the distractions away. I try to stay in my space as much as possible, really take care of how my energy levels are, what am I thinking, my thoughts because it's very easy for me to kind of get pulled into the expectations and the frenzy around games like these," said Kohli.

"My job is to focus on my skills and to be able to do the job for the team as much as I can and I think one of the key notes there is I kept telling myself in the field whenever I was feeling a bit down that I'm going to put my 100 per cent on every ball that I field and sometime I will get the rewards for the hard work that I'm putting in on the ground so that's why I take a lot of pride in working hard and running around the field as well," he added.

The former India captain was also full of praise for Shubman Gill, who scored 46 against Pakistan. He also alluded to how Gill is now the World's No.1 batter in ODI cricket. Kohli also mentioned Shreyas Iyer, who played a valuable knock of 56 at No.4.

"Shubman is in phenomenal touch. There's a reason why he's the number one ODI batter in the world. Shreyas has come come off at number four, 500 out runs in the world cup and then continuing his good form in India as well and now here too," he concluded.