Virat Kohli congratulates Kane Williamson after the Black Caps thrashed India by eight wickets. Photo / Photosport
Virat Kohli congratulates Kane Williamson after the Black Caps thrashed India by eight wickets. Photo / Photosport
Indian captain Virat Kohli has taken aim at his team, claiming they weren't "brave enough" during their eight-wicket thrashing by the Black Caps at the Twenty20 World Cup.
India were on the back foot from the opening over after being inserted to bat in Dubai, with the Black Caps restricting them to a meagre 110-7 before chasing it down with 33 balls to spare in a dominant victory.
Kohli labelled his side's performance as "quite bizarre".
"I thought we were brutal up front, I don't think we were brave enough with the bat or ball. With the ball obviously we didn't have much to play with, but we just weren't brave enough and our body language when we entered the field – New Zealand had better intensity, better body language, and they created pressure on us from the first over onwards, and continued that through the innings."
Kohli could (and likely would) include himself in that scathing review, with the skipper mustering just nine off 17 balls, while India could also point to their aggression not paying off, with their first four wickets all caught on the boundary.
"Every time we felt like we wanted to take a chance, we lost a wicket. That happens in T20 cricket but most often that is a result of that little bit of hesitation with the bat, when you feel like 'should I go for the shot or not'."
Virat Kohli congratulates Kane Williamson after the Black Caps thrashed India by eight wickets. Photo / Photosport
India are now 0-2, and need to win their remaining three games, while also hoping Afghanistan (or less likely, Scotland or Namibia) beat the Black Caps, in order to have a chance of making the semifinals.
Even if they get to 3-2, they would still need a remarkable net run rate turnaround to have a hope of progressing in the tournament, and Kohli admitted his team have not lived up to their lofty expectations.
"When you play for the Indian cricket team you have a lot of expectations – not only from the fans but from the players themselves.
"We've embraced that over the years and everyone who plays for the Indian team has to embrace that and learn how to cope with it. When you cope with it as a team, you're able to overcome that pressure and those tough situations, and we haven't in these two games and that's why we haven't won."
The Black Caps move to 1-1 with the victory, and victories in their final three group games will ensure safe passage into the semifinals.
Skipper Kane Williamson was thrilled with what he described as a fantastic all-round performance.
"A number of things went our way and we were very clinical in all facets. The first half of the game was set up beautifully on a surface that wasn't easy to find rhythm on, and we were able to build pressure throughout. Then the way the openers came out and got us off to a great start really set the platform for the chase.
"The collective [bowling] unit was outstanding, the way they passed the baton and kept applying pressure. It was a really strong performance for us – I think we saw some really promising signs in our first match as well which was a tight one, and we were able to build on that and put it out here."
Black Caps bowler Ish Sodhi took the crucial wickets of Kohli and Rohit Sharma in a man-of-the-match performance, and pinpointed the strong start from the seamers as what allowed him to succeed.
"A big part of our game is using those spin bowlers through the middle, it's always set up by the powerplay bowlers and I think Tim Southee getting that wicket late in the powerplay was massive for us and allowed us to do our job through the middle.
"It was hard not to think this was a really big game, coming into the game we wanted to play as good a game as we possibly could, and to play the way we did I think is one to definitely celebrate."
