Virat Kohli: Hats off to Sri Lanka for outplaying us

Sri Lanka showed some wonderful grit to secure a seven-wicket victory over India to keep their Champions Trophy semi-final hopes alive. Despite posting a competitive 321 runs, India allowed the Lankan top-order to dictate terms and will, now, need to beat South Africa to ensure qualification for the semi-final. So much so that, Virat Kohli believes that the team were convincingly outplayed by their sub-continental rivals.

“I think Sri Lanka played well. That fact is also present. We’re playing against a team. We’re not playing amongst ourselves. You’ve got the top eight teams in the world and there’s no guarantee that someone can’t beat the other.”

 "I personally thought that we had enough on the board halfway -- you know, during the break. And I think our bowlers also bowled decently well. If batsmen come out and play like that and everyone plays well, you have to give credit to the opposition as well. We're not invincible. We are playing against other sides who are also Champion sides," said Kohli.

“If a side comes out 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. They did not lose wickets, and they kept rotating strike, which we as a team have done so many times.”

Virat Kohli

“If a side comes out 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. They did not lose wickets, and they kept rotating strike, which we as a team have done so many times.”

While Sri Lankan batsmen took the attack to India from the beginning, the Indian openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, started the innings at a normal pace without going berserk right from the outset - a trait that has become regular in Indian batting recently. Kohli said he found no need to change that approach but admitted that against South Africa, India might have to pace the innings better to raise a more competitive target.

“We obviously have to consolidate and then explode in the end, and that’s the way we always play,” he explained. “We’re not a side that always plays explosive cricket throughout the 50 overs.

“I thought we paced it well. In hindsight, when you look back, maybe you think of phases that we could have accelerated, but I don’t see that as a major issue. Maybe we will have to push harder now in the next few games to give us a 20-run cushion. Maybe, after seeing a result like this, because we’re playing on the same ground as well.”

But Kohli pointed out that the conditions were not the most helpful for the bowlers and explained the rationale behind not throwing the ball to Yuvraj Singh. "If the team is four or five down and you have to get few overs out of the way from the part-timer, then Yuvi can be used, but at that stage, I did not think -- because Jadeja was also going for runs, and it was difficult to bowl with the breeze going that side to the shorter boundary. If Jadeja is finding it difficult, then obviously Yuvi would have found it a bit more difficult as well," explained Kohli.