Virat Kohli Slams Teammates For Poor Finishing And Fielding

Ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli & Co. received yet another eye-opener as West Indies crushed India by eight wickets in the second T20I on Sunday to level the three-match series 1-1. Asked to bat first, India scored 170 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs with Shivam Dube scoring a stroke-filled fifty. In reply, West Indies chased down the total with nine balls remaining.

India’s openers once again failed to give the team a good start as KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma departed cheaply. But India did not find themselves on the backfoot thanks to Dube’s stunning counter assault. Promoted at number three, the allrounder took the West Indies bowlers to the cleaners, slamming 54 off just 30 balls.

His knock contained three fours and four sixes. Rishabh Pant also played a handy knock of 33. Towards the end, the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja failed to give India a good finish. West Indies, in reply, were off to a stunning start with Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons adding 73 runs for the first wicket before the former departed.

That will be all from the 2nd T20I. 1-1 and the stage is set for the decider in Mumbai #TeamIndia #INDvWI @Paytm pic.twitter.com/tbt5RwYl9c

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 8, 2019

Simmons and Shimron Hetmyer then added 39 runs before a stunning catch from Virat Kohli saw the latter depart. But any hopes of capitalising on the breakthrough soon disappeared as Nicholas Pooran came out all guns blazing. The southpaw slammed 38 off just 18 while Simmons remained unbeaten on 66.

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Kohli on the loss:

Speaking at the end of the game, skipper Virat Kohli admitted that batting first has become a problem for his side. He was also critical of his team’s finish with the bat as well as poor fielding. India dropped a number of chances once again and Kohli was not impressed with the effort at all.

“Could say that (on whether batting first is a problem). Numbers say a lot of things, and a lot of things that aren’t there as well. You expect to get 40-45 in last four overs, not 30. Shivam’s knock propelled us. If you field like that, no total is good enough. With the ball we were good, the first four overs. But if you drop chances, it’s going to cost you.

“Fielding is something – we need to be more brave. We knew the pitch is going to help spinners, so we thought why not Shivam go up and attack the spinner. That was the plan, worked very well. It was one of those catches that just stuck. Committed to the ball, stretched both hands – last match I went with just one hand,” he added.

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