Kohli gives credit to Sri Lanka after loss

LONDON: India captain Virat Kohli said his team was not invincible after the defending champion allowed Sri Lanka to chase down a target of 322 and win a pulsating Champions Trophy match at The Oval yesterday.

India, inspired by Shikhar Dhawan’s superb 125, racked up a healthy total of 321 for six but Sri Lanka knocked off the runs with eight balls left to leave group B wide open.

All four teams in the section have two points going into the last round of games in which India plays topranked South Africa tomorrow and Sri Lanka meets Pakistan on Monday.

‘‘I think Sri Lanka played really well,’’ Kohli said following his team’s sevenwicket loss.

‘‘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 past 17 oneday internationals, including the last five.

India’s bowlers struggled to contain the Sri Lankan batsmen, however, as Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis shared a secondwicket partnership of 159 before captain Angelo Mathews steered his team home with a composed unbeaten 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.’’

Kohli blamed poor execution as India’s bowlers took only one wicket, the other two Sri Lankan wickets coming from runouts as the team achieved the highest successful run chase in the tournament’s history.

‘‘There is always hindsight when you don’t win games. As I said we bowled decently well, but the execution wasn’t quite there,’’ Kohli, who was out for a duck to complete a bad day for one of the world’s leading batsmen, said.

‘‘Obviously, there is food for thought but you have got to give credit to other teams as well. You don’t take any team lightly. It’s going to be like this throughout the tournament and we don’t expect anything less.’’ — Reuters

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Coming up short . . . Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis dives to make his ground but is run out for 89 during his team’s ICC Champions trophy match against India at The Oval in London yesterday.