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New Delhi: Indian captain Virat Kohli has blamed his side’s batting after the 40-run defeat against New Zealand in the second T20 International at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. Chasing a daunting target of 197, India were restricted on 156/7.
Kohli, who scored 65 off 42 balls, was of the view that all the batsmen needed to contribute when chasing such a big target. “Eventually we weren’t good enough with the bat. When you’re chasing 200, all the batsmen need to chip in, or one batsman has to keep going at a 200 strike-rate. Tried to do my best,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
Meanwhile, the Indian skipper has backed MS Dhoni who took time to launch the attack while the required run-rate was climbing.
“MS (Dhoni) was very good at the end. But we were left with a very difficult task. It happens to a lot of batsmen, sometimes you are in good form, but you don’t get enough balls,” he said.
Kohli also backed all-rounder Hardik Pandya who failed to contribute with the bat second time in a row. Pandya was cleaned up by Ish Sodhi for just one run.
“We back Hardik (Pandya), and its just a little glitch,” the Indian captain said.
Kohli also felt that after the 13th over the ball gripped a bit thereby assisting the bowlers. “After 13-14 overs, it gripped a bit. But we have no excuses, we weren’t good enough with the bat. There wasn’t any kind of dew,” he concluded.
New Zealand by virtue of this win stay alive in the three-match series. The third and final match, which will be the series decider, will take place at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on November 07 (Tuesday).
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