The Virat Kohli-led side had faced their first defeat of the tournament. The brilliance from Jonny Bairstow and the collective bowling effort has made India taste their first defeat of the tournament. Meanwhile, the Indian skipper blames the poor batting for the loss.
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli felt that the opposition has been clinical in the game and admitted that they failed to apply themselves in the heavy chase. Further, he went on to add saying that He wants the team to not look much into it unless any positives.
”They were just more clinical in terms of their execution of their plans. We are still playing good cricket, and the morale is still the same in the dressing room. We just have to brush this aside as professional cricketers, learn from it and move forward. The toss was vital, especially looking at the boundaries that are this short. Bizarre that it just falls in place with the boundary limitations and with a flat pitch such as this. It’s crazy that things fall in place like that randomly. It’s the first time we are experiencing this,” Virat Kohli said.
We should have accelerated – Virat Kohli
The skipper further felt that they would have taken chances and tried to finish the game a little earlier. The flamboyant batsman admitted that the England bowlers have bowled decent line and lengths.
”The toss wasn’t a massive factor, but we weren’t clinical with the bat I suppose because the wicket was flat. We should have accelerated and gotten closer, but they bowled superbly.”
We pulled it back:
Further, Virat Kohli spoke about the spinners saying that they should have been clinical with their line and lengths. However, he backed his bowlers saying that the venue is something, which doesn’t suit spinners.
”If batsmen are able to reverse sweep, sweep you for a six on a 59-meter boundary you can’t do much as a spinner. They had to be smarter with their lines as it was difficult to contain runs with one short boundary.”
”If we were clinical with the bat, if the dismissals didn’t happen at that time then the result could have been different. We had a decent chance when they (Pant and Pandya) were in there to strike a few and get closer to the target and trigger panic in their dressing room.”
On MS Dhoni:
Speaking of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli said that they need to sit down and assess things. He felt that Dhoni tried his bit but the lengths of England bowlers have been brilliant.
”I think MS was trying really hard to get the boundary but it wasn’t coming off. They bowled in good areas and the ball was stopping, hence it was difficult to bat towards the end. We have to sit and assess and improve on things in the next game,” he concluded.
All in all, it was a first loss for the Indian National Cricket Team in the ICC World Cup 2019. In the next assignment, they will take on Bangladesh on June 2nd.