World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli reflects on India's lack of clinical batting after loss to England

India's unbeaten run in the 2019 World Cup came to an end on Sunday at Birmingham's Edgbaston, where they lost to hosts England. Despite a century from Rohit Sharma and another half-century for Virat Kohli, India finished at 306/5, missing the 338-run target by 31 runs. Kohli later admitted that better execution with the bat could have changed the outcome.

Once Rohit and Kohli were out, the momentum shifted to debutant Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, whose quick scoring kept India's hopes alive. The captain believed India remained competitive as long as this pair was batting.

Kohli noted that India had a genuine opportunity to win while Pant and Pandya were in control, but the frequency of wickets falling made a high-scoring chase difficult, eventually handing the win to England.

Discussing the spinners' performance, Kohli pointed out that when opponents are hitting reverse sweeps for six, there's very little a bowler can do. He added that they needed to adjust their lines to better handle the disadvantage of a short boundary.
“They had to be more smart with their lines as it was difficult to contain runs with one short boundary,” he added.

England seemed poised to smash over 350 runs at one point, though Indian bowlers eventually managed to limit the damage. However, the chase faltered later when MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav struggled to keep the scoreboard moving after Pant and Pandya departed.
Ms Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav who came after Pandya and Pant’s departure and struggled to hit boundaries.