India skipper Virat Kohli blasts team for poor effort after dropped catches hurt hosts in second T20I v Windies
India captain Virat Kohli gestures during the second T20I against West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. Pic /AFP
Thiruvananthapuram: India captain Virat Kohli criticised his teammates' fielding performance in the second T20 International against the West Indies, saying they need to be more "brave" or else no amount of runs would be defendable. Washington Sundar, at mid-off, and Rishbh Pant, behind the stumps, dropped catches off successive deliveries from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the Indian bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Lendl Simmons (67 no off 45 balls), Evin Lewis (40 off 35 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (38 no off 18 balls). The hosts lost the match by eight wickets here on Sunday.
"If we field so poorly, no amount of runs will be enough. We were poor in the field during the last two games. We dropped two catches [Sundar and Pant] in one over. Imagine if they lost two in the same over, that could have increased pressure," Kohli said in the post-match presentation. "Everyone saw we need to be more brave in fielding," he added.
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Kohli also felt that a below-par batting performance in the final four overs cost them dearly. Having lost seven out of the last 15 T20 games where they have batted first, Kohli was asked if it has become an issue as statistics suggested. "Numbers say a lot of things. They can say a lot of things that aren't there as well. I think we were good for the first 16 overs while batting when we were 140 for 4. But then in the last four overs, we should have got 40 to 45 runs and we got only thirty. We need to focus on that," Kohli said.
India scored only 38 runs in the last five overs after Shivam Dube's 54 off 30 balls provided a platform for final assault.
Rishabh Pant needs time to mature, says Pietersen
New Delhi: Former England captain Kevin Pietersen believes that under-fire Rishabh Pant needs to be given time to mature as there is still some years before he can realise his full potential. "I observed him very closely during the IPL and he kept making the same mistake and when you do that continuously then pundits, experts and people who have played the game want to criticize you because you should be learning from your mistakes. But I never realised he's 21 [22]. I thought he was 24 or 25 because by that age you have matured," he said on Star Sports.
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