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'We weren't aware enough on how to go about things on that pitch': Virat Kohli after India's 8-wicket loss to England
Virat Kohli said the batsmen will have to accept the faults and come back stronger in the next match of the series after England beat India by 8 wickets in the first T20I in Ahmedabad.
India captain Virat Kohli accepted that it wasn’t an ideal day for India on the park and said they 'weren’t aware enough' on how to go about things on the Ahmedabad pitch provided for the first T20I in which England outplayed India to register a comfortable eight-wicket win on Friday.
Kohli said the batsmen will have to accept the faults and come back stronger in the next match of the series.
“We just weren't aware enough of what to do on that kind of pitch. Lack of execution of some of the shots and something we have to address as batsmen. It wasn't an ideal day on the park. You have to accept your faults and come back in the next game with much more intent and clarity of plan,” said Kohli.
After opting to field first, England bowlers never allowed India to get off the blocks. India lost KL Rahul for 1 and captain Kohli for a duck and before they knew it, Shikhar Dhawan too fell cheaply.
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Rishabh Pant played some attractive shots but once he was out for 21, India’s hopes of getting a big score were gone.
If it wasn’t for Shreyas Iyer’s superb innings of 67 then India might not have crossed three figures.
“The wicket probably did not allow you to hit the kind of shots you wanted to, Shreyas' innings was an example on how you can use the depth of the crease and ride the bounce. It was a below par batting performance and England made us pay.
“We looked to try few things but as a batting side you have to accept the conditions in front of you, if the pitch allows you to play such kind of shots then yes. We did not give ourselves enough time to assess the conditions, Shreyas did that but there were too many wickets down to get past 150-160. It is part of the whole journey of international cricket. When you have played for that long you will have your ups and down, you have to accept that as a batsman,” Kohli said.
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In reply, England made light work of the 125-run riding on a 49-run from Jason Roy. They reached the target in 15.3 overs with eight wickets in hand.
“On your day you will probably much more for the team. At the end of the day, you have to keep true to your intent and plan as a batsman, understand sometimes the bowling team will come out and execute their plans better. For me it is about going out there and trying to be positive as I can. It is not tough (changing formats), we have done it in the past. We take a lot of pride in playing good white-ball cricket, we have won the previous series and the series before that. We just have these five games before the T20 World Cup, so we need to experiment but having said that, we have to ensure we don't take things lightly and especially against a team like England,” Kohli signed off.
