Indian skipper Virat Kohli post India’s drubbing at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday rejected the thoughts that the ‘Men in Blue’ went into the big game on an overconfident note. Kohli applauding his opponents said that India was outplayed by Pakistan and there was no shame in accepting that Pakistan played better than them.
“They definitely outplayed us. We didn’t get any chances. You have to give them the credit. We tried our best. There is no shame in accepting that a team played better than you,” Kohli said in the post-match press conference.
The Indian captain went on to add that the opposition was too good on the day. Kohli rebuffed the claims that India took Pakistan lightly and were overconfident going into the game. On being asked about the same, Kohli explained
“You don’t go out there to take anything lightly, especially a team like Pakistan who, on their day, can beat anyone in the world. This is a game that has to be respected and we are a team that definitely does that. We do not think that winning one game is the end of the World and no other team should think that. This is a very big game,” Kohli added.
Kohli further explained,
“Cricket is beyond and above anyone else and any individual. We definitely respect the game. We never take any opposition lightly, nor do we differentiate between opposition. That’s how we play our cricket. One the day, if we haven’t played good, we accept and we give credit to the opposition as well,” the Indian skipper added further.
Talking about whether the batting got comparatively easier in the second innings and the toss factor, Kohli observed,
“I wouldn’t say that it became very difficult but if the pitch becomes a little better to bat on and you get off to a start, then you start feeling more confident about your chase. The moment you came in towards the second half of the Pakistan innings, they were able to rotate the strike. We were not even able to get dot balls in because the wicket was obviously providing a bit more pace for the batsmen to work with. The slower balls were not holding up as much. Yes, the toss is definitely going to be a factor in this tournament, especially if the dew keep creeping in during the latter half of the game. You need those extra runs in the first half,”
It was Pakistan’s fast bowler Shaheen Afridi, who broke India’s back by dismissing Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul cheaply and later came to send Kohli back to the pavilion. Kohli heaped praises on Afridi and admitted that Afridi’s spell cost India at least 20-25 runs. Afridi with his match winning performance of 3 for 31 bagged the Man of the Match award.
“He did bowl pretty well. He hit the right areas to pick up wickets. In T20 cricket, you need good execution to take wickets with the new ball and he certainly did that. Credit to him, he put out batsmen under pressure immediately with the new ball. He ran in with intensity and bowled in consistent areas. As batsmen, we were forced to be a bit watchful. That spell, kind of, put us on the back foot immediately. From there on, to get those extra 20-25 runs, seemed pretty difficult after we lost three wickets early,” Kohli told media on Sunday.
