Virat Kohli says India didn't deserve to win; rues missed opportunities
What’s the story?
India captain Virat Kohli admitted that his side did “not deserve to win” after the visitors lost the solitary T20I against West Indies by nine wickets at Jamaica. The skipper admitted that not carrying on with the bat and the missed opportunities in the field didn’t help their cause either as they were hammered by the hosts despite scoring 190/6.
Speaking after the defeat, Kohli said: “I thought even in the first innings we could have scored 20-30 runs extra. We were on course to get 220+ but we did not grab our chances and when you don't, you do not deserve to win, especially with the wind and when the batsmen are playing like that.”
On the reason for the defeat, he added: “If you give a good start up the order, one batsman needs to bat through. We couldn’t really carry on. Dinesh was really good in the middle overs but no one got an 80-90 odd. We also couldn’t take our catches which cost us a bit.”
Extra Cover: Stats: Evin Lewis records highest T20I score while chasing
In case you didn’t know...
On the back of Evin Lewis’ unbeaten century, West Indies thrashed India by nine wickets with nine balls to spare in the one-off T20I at Jamaica. After winning the toss, the hosts decided to bowl first and despite a good start, India could only finish with 190/6 as none of India’s top-order went on to get a fifty. In reply, sublime batting and some poor fielding helped the hosts cruise home as they ended the tour with a win.
The heart of the matter
Centurion Evin Lewis was living charmed life as he got broke Chris Gayle’s record of highest score by a West Indies batsman in a T20I. Twice in the space of two overs, Lewis offered high catches and both weren’t taken by India. While the first was the result of miscommunication between Mohammed Shami and Virat Kohli, who both didn’t call for it, the second was Dinesh Karthik just not getting the job done near the ropes.With India set to embark on a series
Even the usually reliable MS Dhoni, missed two stumping opportunities and that capped off a terrible day in the field for the visitors that led to a comprehensive defeat at the hands of West Indies.
What’s next?
Although India lost the T20I series, they claimed the ODI series 3-1 and will now travel to Sri Lanka, who are currently playing Zimbabwe, where they play three Tests, five ODIs and a T20I.
Author’s Take
Increasingly, India’s performances in the shortest format of the game seem to indicate the need to have specialists who just play the format in order to keep up with the game. While Kohli and Dhawan set the platform by going for their shots, the batsmen that followed couldn’t really get going from the outset and that cost them runs that could have come in handy. Although a bad day in the field can happen to even the best fielding sides, this match is part of a worrying trend that has seen India drop simple catches and that is something that they will have to address.