Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 13 (ANI): After an eight-wicket loss in the first T20I of the five-match series against England, India skipper Virat Kohli said that his side displayed a poor batting performance and as a result, the visitors made them pay.
England defeated India by eight wickets with 27 balls to spare here at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Chasing 125, Jason Roy and Jos Buttler starred with the bat as they played knocks of 49 and 28 respectively.
“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. 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,” Kohli told host broadcaster Star Sports at the post-match presentation.
“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,” he added.
Kohli was dismissed for a duck in the first T20I by spinner Adil Rashid. The Indian skipper had last scored a century in international cricket in 2019 and since then, the three-figure mark has eluded him.
Speaking about his form, Kohli said: “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. 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.”
In the first T20I, Shreyas had played a lone hand as he scored 67 runs while batting at number five and this helped India post a score of 124/7 in the allotted twenty overs.
India and England will now lock horns in the second T20I of the five-match series on Sunday. (ANI)