A cricket spell for pedestrians in 45 minutes ruined India's stellar campaign in the Cricket World Cup, Captain Virat Kohli lamented after his team's semi-final loss to New Zealand in a scoring thriller on Wednesday.
Kohli's men led the group stage and obtained England's number one ranking before their last four clashes with the 2015 finalists, New Zealand.
Defending 239-8, Matt Henry and Trent Boult flew away the top star-filled order from India that included Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the top scorer of the tournament, to reduce them to five times three windows in four shots.
Ravindra Jadeja mounted a bold rearguard action, but India could not recover after falling to 24-4 after the first power game.
"Of course, very disappointed," Kohli said at a press conference.
"We have played exceptional cricket throughout this tournament. Leaving based on the 45 minutes of bad cricket is sad.
"It also breaks your heart, because you worked hard throughout the tournament to gain momentum. You finish number one on the table, and then a bad cricket spell and you're out of the tournament. But you must accept it." "
After the implosion of the higher order, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya tried to stop the free fall before they both played reckless shots to throw their windows.
Kohli admitted that his selection of shots could have been better, although he refused to blame Pant, 21, who played alone in his ninth one-day international match.
"Look, he's an instinctive player. And he did well to overcome that situation and partner with Hardik," Kohli said.
"He is still young, I made many, many mistakes when I was young in my career, and he will learn, he will look back and think that yes, he could have chosen a different option in that situation, maybe he will realize that."
India suffered its only defeat in the group stage against host England, which will face Australia in the second semifinal in Birmingham on Thursday.
Kohli said the team would come out stronger backwards.
"It has happened to us before and we have all come out better in cricket due to the setbacks, especially at a stage like the World Cup," he added.
"But having said that, we qualified for the semifinals and played a very good cricket, so we should also be proud of the way we play."
Kohli's men led the group stage and obtained England's number one ranking before their last four clashes with the 2015 finalists, New Zealand.
Defending 239-8, Matt Henry and Trent Boult flew away the top star-filled order from India that included Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the top scorer of the tournament, to reduce them to five times three windows in four shots.
Ravindra Jadeja mounted a bold rearguard action, but India could not recover after falling to 24-4 after the first power game.
"Of course, very disappointed," Kohli said at a press conference.
"We have played exceptional cricket throughout this tournament. Leaving based on the 45 minutes of bad cricket is sad.
"It also breaks your heart, because you worked hard throughout the tournament to gain momentum. You finish number one on the table, and then a bad cricket spell and you're out of the tournament. But you must accept it." "
After the implosion of the higher order, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya tried to stop the free fall before they both played reckless shots to throw their windows.
Kohli admitted that his selection of shots could have been better, although he refused to blame Pant, 21, who played alone in his ninth one-day international match.
"Look, he's an instinctive player. And he did well to overcome that situation and partner with Hardik," Kohli said.
"He is still young, I made many, many mistakes when I was young in my career, and he will learn, he will look back and think that yes, he could have chosen a different option in that situation, maybe he will realize that."
India suffered its only defeat in the group stage against host England, which will face Australia in the second semifinal in Birmingham on Thursday.
Kohli said the team would come out stronger backwards.
"It has happened to us before and we have all come out better in cricket due to the setbacks, especially at a stage like the World Cup," he added.
"But having said that, we qualified for the semifinals and played a very good cricket, so we should also be proud of the way we play."
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