MANCHESTER – India captain Virat Kohli admitted his side had paid the pricefor “45 minutes of bad cricket” as he looked back on the wreckage of hisside´s stunning World Cup exit.
Kohli´s team crashed to an unexpected 18-run defeat against New Zealand inthe semi-finals at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Needing just 240 to reach Sunday´s final, two-time champions India wereundone by a dismal start to their run chase.
Unable to cope with the pace bowling of Matt Henry and Trent Boult, Indiawere reduced to 5-3, 24-4 and 92-6 before their Ravindra Jadeja-inspiredlate revival set up a tense finale that ultimately fell short.
Kohli, the world´s leading batsman, was one of the India stars to flop ashe was dismissed for one alongside Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who also onlymanaged a single each.
“It´s tough, 45 minutes of bad cricket put you out of the tournament. It´shard to come to terms with but New Zealand deserve it, they put us underpressure and came through in the key moments,” Kohli told Sky Sports.
“Our shot selection could´ve been better but otherwise we played a goodbrand of cricket and I´m proud of the way we played.
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“Come the knockouts it is anyone´s game and New Zealand showed morecomposure and were braver and they deserve to go through to the final.”
Kohli felt India had taken a huge step towards the final when theyrestricted New Zealand to 239-8 at the conclusion of the Black Caps´rain-interrupted 50 overs — with the match carried over from Tuesday due tothe bad weather.
“We got what we needed to get in the field this morning and we thought wehad restricted them to a total that is chaseable on any surface. But theway they bowled in that first half an hour was the difference in the game,”he said.
Insisting India weren´t fazed by having to return to Old Trafford to finishthe match on the reserve day, Kohli added: “It was fine having to come backtoday. We had a good day yesterday and I´m very proud of that effort. Thenit was a professional effort with the ball this morning and we had themomentum.
“But credit to the New Zealand bowlers, the way they bowled with the newball, moving it around, it was an outstanding skill level on display andthey made life very difficult for our batsmen.” -APP/AFP
