Batsmen left too much for Hardik Pandya in the end: Virat Kohli

SYDNEY: India captain Virat Kohli blamed India's below-par batting in the middle-overs phase for India losing the third and final T20 International at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) here on Tuesday.

Kohli said that India batsmen left a bit too much for Hardik Pandya towards the end. "We had a chance when Hardik and I were batting (the two brought the equation down to 43 off 18 balls). But the middle-over phase, when we were batting, was the phase that cost us the game. If we had one partnership of 25 or 30, it would have meant that Hardik would have arrived when we needed 60 and not 80. His job would have become easier," said Kohli after Tuesday's match.

Kohli, however, was happy with the way the team played the limited-overs series and he was quite happy with the competitiveness they showed even in the last, inconseqential T20.

"This game was still competitive. We were still in it, we have shown throughout the limited-over series that we are still finding ways to come back into the game and give the opposition a scare and the (T20I) series win is nice little asterisk for us finishing limited-overs leg on a high," added Kohli.

Kohli said that he enjoyed playing in front of a packed house at the SCG. He added that as players, they feed off crowd support. IANS

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