“Quite bizarre”: Virat Kohli sums up India’s loss vs New Zealand in 2021 T20 World Cup

Virat Kohli sums up India’s loss: The Indian captain admitted to his players not playing brave cricket in either innings tonight.

India captain Virat Kohli remains optimistic saying that there’s a lot of cricket to be played in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021. The fact that Kohli had to speak on such lines after only India’s second match of the tournament doesn’t speak very highly about their performance.

Kohli, who admitted that the Indian cricket team is expected to do well especially in a World Cup, laid emphasis on “process” in a situation when India are all but out of the tournament.

“When you play for India, there are loads of expectations. We are watched, people come to the stadium and everyone who plays for India needs to embrace that and cope with it. We haven’t done that in these two games, and that’s why we haven’t won,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

“We have to be optimistic and positive and take calculated risks. We have to disconnect from the pressure and continue with our process, and play a positive brand of cricket. There’s a lot of cricket to play in the tournament.”

Virat Kohli sums up India’s loss vs New Zealand in 2021 T20 World Cup

Not known for mincing his words, Kohli labelled India’s performance in their second match against New Zealand as “bizarre”. Pointing out the lack of bravery on the part of the Indian team across divisions, Kohli highlighted how the opposition was better on the given day with respect to intensity and body language.

Very disappointing from India. NZ were amazing. India’s body language wasn’t great, poor shot selection & like few times in the past, New Zealand have virtually ensured we won’t make it to the next stage. This one will hurt India & time for some serious introspection #IndvsNZ

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 31, 2021

“Quite bizarre. To be brutal upfront, I don’t think we were brave enough with bat/ball. We obviously didn’t have much to play with the ball. We were just not brave enough in our body language when we entered the field and NZ had better intensity, body language. Every time we took a chance, we lost a wicket. It’s most often a result of hesitation of whether you should go for a shot or not,” Kohli added.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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