IND vs NZ: Virat Kohli Reacts on India’s ‘Bizarre’ Loss vs New Zealand in T20 World Cup 2021, Says Not Brave Enough With With Bat or Ball | Earth Indian

Dubai: Indian captain Virat Kohli minced no words on Sunday as his team suffered second straight defeat in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 on Sunday. Playing their second Super 12 encounter of the quadrennial event in UAE, Kohli’s Team India were blanked by an inspired New Zealand side who romped to an eight-wicket victory in match 28 of T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium. Interestingly, this is the first time in 22 years when India have lost their first two matches in a World Cup campaign. Speaking after the “bizarre” loss, skipper Kohli admitted that his team was not brave enough with the bat or ball in a virtual knockout Super 12 encounter against the Black Caps.

The 32-year-old also spoke about his players body language as the team copped an eight-wicket thrashing at the hands of New Zealand. The defeat also puts India in danger of a group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup 2021. “Quite bizarre. To be very honest and brutal up front, I don’t think we were brave enough with bat or ball,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.


“With the ball, I mean, obviously we didn’t have much to play with, but we were just not brave enough with our body language when we entered the field, and New Zealand had better intensity, better body language, and they created pressure on us from the first over onwards, really, and continued that through the innings.

India’s defeat came exactly seven days after the 10-wicket drubbing that the Men in Blue received from arch-rivals Pakistan. The 2007 World T20 champions were restricted to a below-par 110 for seven after being sent in to bat with the likes of Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner sharing the spoils with the ball.

The defeat will once again raise questions over Kohli’s leadership even though he is stepping down from T20 captaincy after the ongoing tournament.

Asked about the weight of expectations on the team, Kohli said, “When you play for the Indian cricket team you have a lot of expectations — not just from fans, but players as well.

“So there’s always going to be more pressure with our games and we’ve embraced it over the years. Everyone who plays for India has to embrace it. And when you cope together as a team you overcome it and we haven’t done it these two games.

“Just because you’re the Indian team and there are expectations doesn’t mean you start playing differently. I think we’re fine, there’s a lot of cricket left to play,” Kohli added, referring to the three remaining group games that the team must win to stay in contention.

India are scheduled to play Afghanistan on November 3, Scotland on November 5 and Namibia on November 8, which will wind up the league stage of the T20 showpiece event.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson guided his team in the easy chase and was unbeaten on 33 when the winning runs were hit. Opener Daryl Mitchell top-scored with a 35-ball 49.

“There’s always planning going into games. But a fantastic all-round performance from us against a formidable India side. We were able to build pressure throughout and the way the openers came out really set the platform,” Williamson said.

“The balance of our attack has two spinners in it, I think the collective unit was impressive, the way they kept passing the baton. We saw some very good signs in our first match as well and we built on that,” Williason said.




By Shivam Urkude || Earth Indian

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