T20 World Cup 2021: Virat Kohli reveals the reason behind Team India’s annihilation against New Zealand

With back-to-back heavy defeats (loss against Pakistan by 10 wickets and loss to NZ by eight wickets), the Men in Blue – who were deemed pre-tournament favourites – now stare at an exit from group-stage from the showpiece event.

The Indians were outclassed by the Blackcaps in all departments of the game after the coin landed in favour of Kane Williamson.

“I don’t think we were brave enough with bat or ball. We were not brave enough with our body language,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

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India were restricted to a below-par 110 for seven after being sent in to bat with the likes of Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner sharing the spoils with the ball. “We didn’t have much to defend but we weren’t brave when we walked out to field.”

The defeat will once again raise questions over Kohli’s leadership even though he is stepping down from T20 captaincy after the ongoing tournament.

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Asked about the weight of expectations on the team, Kohli said, “When you play for the Indian cricket team you have a lot of expectations — not just from fans, but players as well. “So there’s always going to be more pressure with our games and we’ve embraced it over the years. Everyone who plays for India has to embrace it. And when you cope together as a team you overcome it and we haven’t done it these two games.

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“Just because you’re the Indian team and there are expectations doesn’t mean you start playing differently. I think we’re fine, there’s a lot of cricket left to play,” Kohli added, referring to the three remaining group games that the team must win to stay in contention.

The Men in Blue are scheduled to play Afghanistan on November 3, Scotland on November 5 and Namibia on November 8, which will wind up the league stage of the multi-nation tournament.

For India to qualify for the semi-finals, they’ll have to win their remaining games by big margins and hope New Zealand suffer at least one big defeat in their remaining league game.