India vs England, 1st T20I – Virat Kohli

Says India need to address the “lack of execution of the shots” they played

India’s batsmen “weren’t aware enough of what we had to do on that kind of pitch,” Virat Kohli has said after the hosts managed a below-par 124 for 7 in their eight-wicket drubbing against England in the opening T20I in Ahmedabad. India’s batsmen came a cropper against England’s fast bowlers who regularly breached the 140kmh mark – and Mark Wood even crossed 150kmh a few times – as India’s top three scored only five runs together, and Shreyas Iyer was the only one to cross 25 with his 67 off 48.

Kohli said they would have to come up with “clarity of plans” for the next game, which will be held at the same ground on Sunday.

“We just weren’t aware enough of what we had to do on that kind of pitch, I think lack of execution of the shots that we tried to play out there in the middle is something we have to address as batsmen that it wasn’t an ideal day on the park,” he told Star Sports at the post-match presentation. “You have to accept your faults, come back in the next game with a bit more intent, clarity of plans, what are the areas you want to hit.

“It was a strange kind of a start for us. The wicket didn’t allow you to hit the kind of shots you wanted to. Shreyas’ innings was an example of how you could use the depth of the crease, ride the bounce because there was variable bounce at times, and hit the areas square of the wicket which others failed to do. It was just a below-par batting performance from us today and England made us pay for it.”