Important to have belief, says Virat Kohli after thrilling win

England to complain about umpiring in 2nd T20I to match referee

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We had belief, Nehra and Bumrah were outstanding, says Kohli

Internet Desk: After winning a thrilling encounter against the visitors England in the secenod T-20I, skipper of Indian cricket team Virat Kohli said that his team had the “belief” to win the match and level the three match T20I series even after posting a mediocre total on the board. He hailed the bowling skills of veteran Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah as “outstanding”.

After losing the toss against England and sent into bat, the hosts rode on opener KL Rahul’s brilliant knock of 71 to post an average total of 144 for eight on a pitch which was tough to bat on. The Indian bowling attack defended that modest total by a five runs win against England to level the three-match T-20 series.
Kohli lauded his bowling attack, especially pace duo of Nehra and Bumrah who were instrumental in securing the win for the hosts.

With England needing eight runs off the last over, Bumrah dished out an excellent effort and conceded just two runs and also picked up two wickets to seal the match for India.

“It’s important to have belief. It was a case of us executing well initially. You don’t want to let the momentum slip away in the middle overs, especially with the series on the line. But the way spinners bowled in the middle, and then the effort of Nehra and Bumrah with dew was outstanding,” Kohli said at the post-match press conference.

“Nehra knew exactly what he wanted to do, Bumrah was asking me every ball what I thought he should do. I told him ‘just bowl what comes naturally to you.'”

Lauding Rahul’s effort, Kohli said it was a difficult wicket to bat on.

“I played for a bit on that wicket, shot-making was difficult. As soon as I got out, Rahul knew he had to play long. He has all the shots in the book. Good reflexes, hand-eye coordination,” the India skipper said.

Losing captain Eoin Morgan said Bumrah’s excellent final over eventually turned out to be the difference between a win and loss for England.

“We didn’t start the final over well. The wicket was tough, but fair play, he (Bumrah) produced a match-winning over. I thought we bowled really well to back up our previous performance with the ball, but with the last two games, we’ve been right on the money,” Morgan said.

“In the chase, we never let it get too far away from us.

(Joe) Root, (ben) Stokes played outstandingly well. It’s unbelievably disappointing to lose, but we still have a chance to win the series in Bangalore,” he added.

On the other hand, England captain Eoin Morgan says the umpire’s decision to rule Joe Root out LBW at a crucial juncture cost them the second Twenty20 against India and they will raise the issue with the ICC match referee.

Umpire C Shamsuddin had adjudged well-set Root leg before wicket off Jasprit Bumrah in the last over when the batsman had actually edged the ball.

“It’s extreme frustration absolutely. It shifted momentum in the 20th over. Losing a batsman who has faced 40 balls to the first ball on a wicket that’s not that easy to time the ball on is quite a bit of a hammer blow,” said Morgan.

“It proved very costly and all things considered, a couple of decisions did not go our way. We still should have won the game, that s the big positive for us, but the fact we did not do it is really disappointing. We have the opportunity to do before the next game as feedback is given through the match referee on a report,” he added.

He also did not believe he got out to a rash shot when well set.

“No I don’t think so. I really played well tonight. We produced a really good bowling performance on a wicket that suited India more than us. I think in the chase we were always in a reasonable position. We built partnerships till the end.

We should have won the game,” he said.

“We will draw a line on it tomorrow and move on before Bangalore,” he added.

England needed 24 off last two overs, got 16 of those in the 19th bowled by Ashish Nehra before falling short of the target in the last over from Bumrah in which both Root and Jos Buttler got out to hand India a five-run win.

Asked if it was disappointing that DRS is not present in T20 games, he said “A little bit yeah. Even if it s only available for World Cup Games (it will be good). There s no reason why it should not be there.”

He also said a T-20 game should strike a fine balance beween batsmen and bowlers.

“Personally it should be combination of both. High percentage of audience want balls to be hit for six and lower percentage want bowlers take wickets and put batsmen under pressure. It should be a 70:30 split.

The final match of the Twenty20 series between India and England will be played in Bangalore on February 1.

With inputs from PTI.