10 June,2017 08:48 AM IST | London | PTI
Skipper Virat Kohli says India won't brood over loss to Sri Lanka and will focus on Sunday's game vs South Africa
Virat Kohli
Captain Virat Kohli sports a dejected look after India's seven-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka at The Oval in London on Thursday. Pic/AFP
India captain Virat Kohli said they are not invincible as he tried to make sense of the stunning loss to Sri Lanka despite posting, what he thought, was a winning total in their Champions Trophy clash here on Thursday.
India set Sri Lanka a tough target of 322, which the islanders easily chased down with seven wickets in hand. "I personally thought that we had enough on the board at the halfway stage. And I think our bowlers also bowled decently well. If the Lankan batsmen come out and play like that and everyone plays well, you have to give credit to the opposition as well. We are not invincible," Kohli said.
Poor execution
"We are playing against other sides who are also champion sides (in their own rights)," he reasoned. "There's always hindsight. I thought we bowled decently. But when you don't execute properly, there is always food for thought. Here you have to give credit to the other team," Kohli added.
Kohli said that rather than criticising his colleagues, he would like to compliment the kind of batsmanship displayed by Sri Lanka. "If a side comes out there and plays cricket with that kind of mindset and executes their shots so well, then you have to take your hat off sometimes and say 'very well played'," he said.
Defending champions India are now in a do-or-die situation and will now have to beat South Africa in the virtual quarter-final to progress to the last four round.
Virtual quarter-final
"Yes, it's become very exciting. Virtually every game is a quarter-final now. In our group especially, all teams are on two points, and you have to win your next game to go through, which is, I think, an exciting position to be in for all teams," Kohli said.
Asked as to how he will lift the team, Kohli said, "It is like a batting collapse. When you collapse as a batting unit, you don't sit down and think your life is over. You just move on and say it's a bad day. Forget about it. As for people's perception - we can't sit here and think of what people perceive us to be or what people had expected of us as a team."
