'When you play for that long -- 15-16 years -- you do doubt yourself.'
India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli said he is 'feeling really free' mentally after producing another match-winning effort to help India clinch the three-match ODI series, in which he finished as the leading run-scorer with 302 runs.
Kohli, who had hit centuries in the first two matches, smashed a quickfire 65 not out from 45 balls in the third ODI in Visakhapatnam on Sunday as India, riding on Yashavi Jaiswal's unbeaten century (116 not out) crushed South Africa by nine wickets to win the three-match series 2-1.
"Honestly, playing the way I have in the series is the most satisfying thing for me. I feel really free in my mind. I haven't played like this in 2-3 years," Kohli told JioHotstar after the match.
"I know when I can bat like that in the middle, it helps the team a long way. Makes me confident, any situation in the middle, I can handle that and bring it in favour of the team," he added.
Kohli said self-doubt is inevitable for a batter, irrespective of experience, but felt it helps in overall improvement.
"When you play for that long -- 15-16 years -- you do doubt yourself. Especially as a batter when one mistake can get you out. It's a whole journey of getting better and getting better as a person along the way. It improves you as a person and it improves temperament as well," he said.
"I am just glad that I'm still able to contribute to the team. When I play freely, I know I can hit sixes. There is always levels you can always unlock," he added.
Adjudged the player of the series after finishing as the highest run-getter with 302 runs at an average of 151, Kohli said the hundred in the series opener at Ranchi was the most special knock among the three.
"The first one at Ranchi, because I hadn't played a game since Australia. Just how your energy is on the day, Ranchi is very special for me and I'm very grateful as to how these three games have gone," he said.
India captain K L Rahul said it was important for bowlers to get a break from bowling in wet outfield after dew factor influenced the play in first two matches.
"We got tough conditions in the first two games. So, it was good to give the bowlers a break in a wet outfield. (The surface) was still a really good wicket, what we were able to do was pick up wickets in bunches," he said after India bowled out South Africa for 270.
India's win was set up by Prasidh Krishna (4/66) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/41) in the first half of the game.
"We were able to squeeze in the middle. Prasidh picked up those two or three wickets in a spell which was really crucial and then Kuldeep coming in, picking two wickets in an over. In ODI cricket, that's how you try and contain teams," he said.
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said his side "gifted" wickets to India as they slipped from 168 for two to 270 all-out.
"We would have wanted to make it a lot more exciting today. From a batting point of view, we didn't have enough runs. It tends to get easier under lights. Probably should have been smarter as we gifted wickets," he said.
"The Indian team showed their quality - kudos to them. We could have been a lot more smarter, if you look the first two ODIs, we did that. Probably today, the conditions were different. You never want to get bowled out in a 50-over game."
Bavuma, however, was happy to see that South Africa was able to put pressure on the Indian spinners in the ODI series.
"We have definitely grown, we speak a lot about how we want to play," he said. "India have quality spinners and it's never easy to put them under pressure. For large parts of the series we did that. I think if there were 10 boxes, we ticked 6 or 7 of them."
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