Virat Kohli Defends Indian Bowlers After Series Loss, Says Can't Be Too Hard On Them

In the first game, it was Glenn Maxwell who gave Australia the confidence that they can chase down the total but could not finish the job himself but today, the Australian all-rounder did not leave the crease until he saw Australia chase down a mammoth score of 191.

In fact, he went a yard ahead with his performance with the bat and scored the third century of his T20I career. His innings of 113* off 55 proved to be the changing factor.

After seeing his bowlers going for runs and lose the match, Indian skipper Virat Kohli defended them and said that he can’t be too hard on them due to the dew factor in Bengaluru.

“Pretty short series to summarize the performances. Australia outplayed us in all departments and deserved to win. 190 is a good total on most grounds but if there is so much dew as there was tonight and when you have an innings like what Glenn Maxwell played, nothing much you can do. Every team is looking to take each game like that but it’s also important to win matches. We would have liked to get across the line in at least this game but I can’t be too hard on the bowlers due to the amount of dew. We wanted to give everyone some game time, we’ve seen how they react under pressure, there is a series coming up and we’ll try more things. It’s upto them to deliver the goods. The good thing was that the Bangalore wicket was back to normal and you could trust the lengths. I enjoyed myself but it didn’t really matter as we lost the game.,” he said.

Earlier, India were asked to bat first by Aaron Finch. The home side had a slow start with Shihar Dhawan taking his time to settle down. In the end, he just managed 14 off 24.

It was KL Rahul who took the charge once again and played an innings of 47 off 26. He was dismissed in a soft manner as he handed an easy catch to Jhye Richardson off Nathan Coulter-Nile on a slower ball.

Rishabh Pant failed to capitalise the opportunity again. Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni took the charge of the proceedings and shared 100 runs for the fourth wicket to see India’s score fly in the crucial overs.

Kohli scored 72* off 38 and hit six sixes during his knock, also closing the innings with a six.

Dhoni played a crucial part in the partnership and was dismissed on 40 off 23 in the final over of the match.

Dinesh Karthik did what he could have done in three balls that he got to play by hitting two boundaries on them.

Having won the T20I series now, Australia will now eye success in the ODI series that kicks off on March 2.