XtraTime Web Desk: India faced their first loss in 2019 Cricket World Cup after they lost to hosts England by 31 runs at Birmingham on Sunday. They failed to chase down a big total of 338 runs on a flat pitch and scored only 306 for 5 in their allotted 50 overs.
At the end the fans booed the team, but surprisingly it was not for the rare loss but for yet another slow batting by MS Dhoni & Kedar Jadhav.
Chasing a mammoth of a total, India got off to a slow start but Rohit Sharma (102) and Virat Kohli (66) gave some hope to the Indian supporters. Rishabh Pant (32) and Hardik Pandya (45) brightened India’s prospects but strangely MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav left experts baffled with their knocks on a pitch which had very little in it for the bowlers.
Instead of going for big shots, Dhoni and Jadhav blocked and ran a single here and there to leave a Sunday crowd frustrated in Birmingham.
While Sourav Ganguly and Nasser Hussain raised some serious questions on air during their commentary stint, India skipper Virat Kohli defended his batsmen at the end of the game.
“We kept losing wickets and that doesn’t help in a big chase, but credit goes to England in the end. It’s up to discussions with the two guys who were in there,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“I think MS Dhoni was trying really hard to get the boundary but it wasn’t coming off. They bowled in good areas and the ball was stopping, hence it was difficult to bat towards the end. We have to sit and assess and improve on things in the next game,” Kohli said.