India captain Virat Kohli said that their loss against Sri Lanka at the Oval on Thursday proved that they were not invincible. India lost their second encounter in the Champions Trophy 2017 by seven wickets as Sri Lanka chased 322 to beat the defending champions.
India, powered by Shikhar Dhawan’s 125, racked up a total of 321 for six but Sri Lanka knocked off the runs with eight balls to spare.
“I think Sri Lanka played really well,” said Kohli. “The other teams are also champions and that needs to be kept in mind. We are not invincible.”
India had beaten Sri Lanka in 14 of their last 17 one-day internationals, including the last five.
However, the Indian bowlers struggled to contain the Sri Lankan batsmen as Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis shared a second-wicket partnership of 159 before captain Angelo Mathews steered his team home with a splendid unbeaten knock of 52.
“We all felt we had enough on the board at the halfway mark,” Kohli said. “We trusted our bowlers, but they (Sri Lanka) were pretty good on the day. Kept their momentum going and executed their shots really well. Our bowlers bowled decently, but they batted really well. There is always hindsight when you don’t win games. As I said we bowled decently well, but the execution wasn’t quite there,” added Kohli, who was out for a duck to complete a bad day for one of the world’s leading batsmen.
India must beat South Africa on Sunday to avoid a humiliating exit. “Every game is a quarter-final now,” Kohli said. “All teams are on two points and you have to win all your games to go through. We are very clear about the situation. We have to consolidate and then explode at the end, that’s how we play. We’re not a side that always plays explosive cricket for the 50 overs.”
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