Kohli rues India batting, praises New Zealand
Virat Kohli lamented India's batting after their Test series loss to New Zealand, while paying tribute to the Black Caps.
New Zealand wrapped up a 2-0 series win over India on Monday thanks to a seven-wicket victory in Christchurch.
India struggled with the bat throughout the series, posting scores of 165 and 191 in the first Test in Wellington and 242 and 124 at Hagley Oval.
Kohli praised New Zealand's bowlers and rued his side's batting after their series defeat.
"It was a matter of not having enough intent in the first game and then playing well in the first innings here but then again the small things, small margins," the India captain told Sky Sport.
"When you sit down and look back at this series you have to also give credit to the New Zealand bowlers because they bowled in the right areas for long enough, created a lot of pressure. There were hardly any scoring opportunities so that meant you had to play extravagant shots to get runs rather than just rotating strike and getting runs easily.
"It was a combination of us not quite having the right kind of execution and New Zealand playing really well in their conditions and I think the bowling and the consistency was outstanding and that's something that forced our batting to make those mistakes.
"We're usually a batting side that does show a bit of fight and put up scores on the board, but there was just not enough done by the batsmen in the series for the bowlers to try and attack."
After ripping through the India lower-order to begin day three in Christchurch, New Zealand were untroubled on the way to their target of 132 for victory.
New Zealand sweep India 2-0!
It's a seven-wicket victory for the @BLACKCAPS and they take all 120 World Test Championship points!
#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/VX9Vu6DtWs — ICC (@ICC) March 2, 2020
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Black Caps captain Kane Williamson was happy with his team and said their ability to combine for small but vital partnerships was crucial.
"Outstanding," he said. "Both fairly sporting surfaces where bowlers had to put the ball in the right area, but if you did you created opportunities throughout every day of this game which was surprising. History suggests that it does a bit initially and then flattens out.
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"I guess therein lies the value in a lot of those partnerships that we had with the bat, those 30s and 40s that were huge out there on that surface.
"I don't think the end result reflected how perhaps tight that match was because as we saw in both innings the ball going past the outside of the bat and it is such a fine line, but a fantastic series from our side in terms of the balance with the bat and the ball and the way the guys stuck at it.
"As we know, it is a fine line and India are a world-class side, top of the comp [ICC World Test Championship], so a great effort from the guys."