For many of us, the loss to Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy final was a tough pill to swallow. The loss was heavy both in terms of the match equation and reputation wise. However, regardless of the importance and relevance of the game, Team India and the fans have decided to move on and focus on what there for the future.
Talking about future, they have the tour of West Indies coming up where they will be locking horns with the hosts in the three-match ODI series and a solitary T20I. This series will be a good opportunity to analyse and learn from the mistakes which resulted in a loss at The Oval on Sunday.
Virat Kohli is ready for the tour and wants to leave the loss behind. Speaking at a presser, the Indian skipper asserted that defeat looked very big because it was a tournament final.
“We analyse our victories. We analyse defeats as well. You learn with every cricket game you play. It’s up to you whether you are open to learning or no. We identify areas, even in victories, that we can improve, and this is a loss. It’s the final, so it looks magnified to everyone, but we have won before, we have lost before, and we have always learnt from those games,” the skipper said after the defeat.
After committing a tactical blunder by asking Pakistan to bat first on a batting-friendly track, India gave away easy runs to the opposition in the form of extras. Eventually, that cost them extra runs which added extra pressure on the batsmen who were asked to chase 339 runs to win.
Moreover, one of the no-ball also cost India the most important wicket of the day – Fakhar Zaman – who survived a clear caught behind appeal after Jasprit Bumrah overstepped in the 4th over. In all, 25 extra runs including 18 wides and no-balls were given away as freebies.
“Extras are never a good feeling. It’s something we need to keep a check on. These things are controllable. A guy hitting a good shot is something that is not in your control because you’ve already bowled the ball, but conceding extras is something we can control. And yes, 25 extras is a bit too much, and that’s something we certainly need to take care of in future.”