Dubai: India captain Virat Kohli believes that his team has an exact idea of where the opening match against Pakistan went and where it went wrong for them. He added that brilliant bowling by Pakistan in the first six overs meant that India couldn’t get the extra 20-25 runs. In their opening match of the ICC men’s T20 World Cup. India were handed a ten-wicket drubbing by Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium Sunday.
“As a team, we need to understand that what was the reality of the situation out there in the middle. That’s where those 20-25 extra runs would have been good. But brilliant bowling in the first six, did not allow us to get those extra runs. We know exactly how the game went and where it went wrong. We have absolute clarity of it, which is a good thing to know about where you went wrong as a team,” said Kohli in the post-match press conference Sunday.
“So, you can work and try to correct it and move forward because we still have lot more matches in this tournament. If we stick to the processes we follow, we can definitely feel like we can work on these mistakes,” added Kohli.
Explaining how the match panned out, especially after dew came into the picture during Pakistan’s chase, Kohli said, “If the pitch becomes little better to bat on, you get off to a start. Then you start feeling more confident about the chase. That’s what happened. The more dew came towards the second half of Pakistan’s innings onwards and they were able to rotate strike.”
“We could not get even dot balls in because the pitch was providing a bit more pace to the batters to work with. The slower balls were not holding up as much. These small little factors, as I said, make a massive difference. Toss definitely is going to be a factor in this tournament, especially if dew keeps creeping in the latter half of the game. You then need those extra runs in the first half.”
Talking about Shaheen Shah Afridi’s opening burst, which set up Pakistan’s win, Kohli was in praise of the young left-arm seamer. “He did bowl very well with the new ball. I think he hit the right areas to pick up wickets, and in T20 cricket you need good execution to pick up wickets with the new ball, and certainly, he did that, so credit to him. He put our batsmen under pressure immediately with the new ball, and he ran in with intensity and showed that he’s bowling in consistent areas.”
“So, as batsmen, you are forced to be a bit watchful, and yeah, that spell kind of put us on the back foot immediately, and from there on to get those extra 20, 25 runs, in the end, seemed pretty difficult when you lose three wickets for 20 runs,” concluded Kohli.
Kohli credited Pakistan for outclassing his team in the opening match of the tournament in all departments, saying that his team tried its best to put them under pressure. “They definitely outplayed us. There is no doubt about that. You don’t win by ten wickets if you don’t outplay the opposition. We did not even get any chances. They were very professional. You definitely have to give them credit. We tried our best. We tried to create enough pressure on them. But they had the answers. There is no shame in accepting that one team played better than you.”
“As I said, when you step onto the field, which has eleven players from each side, you have an equal opportunity to win the game. There are no guarantees that you go out there and win every match. But having said that, you also don’t go out there being casual. So, we tried our best. We made a decent total out of a tough situation we thought we could put them under pressure. But they did not let us come into the game at any stage. They deserve the credit for finishing the game very strongly and not allowing us to put any pressure on them throughout the innings.”
India’s next match in the tournament is against New Zealand October 31 in Dubai.