Virat Kohli Slams Flat Pitch After India Suffer First Defeat Of World Cup 2019

India skipper Virat Kohli expressed his disappointment after England ended his side’s winning run in the ongoing World Cup. England, on Sunday, beat India by 31 runs to bounce back to winning ways and keep their semifinal hopes alive. Batting first on a belter of a track at Edgbaston, England piled up a mammoth 337.

Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy gave them a flying start by adding 160 runs for the first wicket. Kuldeep Yadav ended the stand when he dismissed Roy after he crossed his fifty. Bairstow went on to score a fine ton before India pulled things back. However, a quickfire fifty from Ben Stokes helped England pile up a mammoth total.

England are alive in #CWC19! #EoinMorgan's men come good under pressure with a fighting 31-run win to end India's unbeaten run!

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In reply, India were looking very much in contention when Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were batting. However, England dismissed both of them at crucial junctures and kept taking wickets at regular intervals. Consequently, India never got the impetus and ended on the 306 for 5. India now need one point from their remaining two games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to seal a semifinal spot.

Speaking at the end of the game, Virat Kohli credited England for being the better team on the day. He also said that the defeat has not hurt the morale of the team.

“Every team has lost a game or two here or there, you just have to accept that the opposition played a better game on the day, They were just more clinical in terms of their execution of their plans. We are still playing good cricket, and the morale is still the same in the dressing room. We just have to brush this aside as professional cricketers, learn from it and move forward,” Kohli said after the game.

How good was this Chris Woakes catch? See all the wickets India lost ⏬#ENGvIND #WeAreEngland #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/YAusW9pTHW

— ICC (@ICC) June 30, 2019

Kohli also expressed his displeasure over the conditions of the field, saying that the flat pitch and smaller boundaries did not help his team’s cause.

“The toss was vital, especially looking at the boundaries that are this short. Bizarre that it just falls in place with the boundary limitations and with a flat pitch such as this. It’s crazy that things fall in place like that randomly. It’s the first time we are experiencing this. The toss wasn’t a massive factor, but we weren’t clinical with the bat I suppose because the wicket was flat. We should have accelerated and gotten closer, but they bowled superbly. If batsmen are able to reverse sweep, sweep you for a six on a 59-meter boundary you can’t do much as a spinner. They had to be more smart with their lines as it was difficult to contain runs with one short boundary,” he said.

Kohli concluded by defending MS Dhoni once again. Dhoni is once again facing criticism for his bizarre batting display as he failed to accelerate once again.

“I think MS (Dhoni) was trying really hard to get the boundary but it wasn’t coming off. They bowled in good areas and the ball was stopping, hence it was difficult to bat towards the end. We have to sit and assess and improve on things in the next game,” said Virat Kohli.

Also Read: Twitter Tears Apart MS Dhoni After His Horrific Display Against England