His gamble to go for a win while chasing a steep target did not pay off in the opening cricket Test against Australia but India's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday said he does not regret the strategy as playing defensively for a draw would have resulted in a bigger loss. India lost the match by 48 runs after giving a real shot to the 364-run target here and Kohli said he is proud of the approach.
“The chat I was having with guys in the middle was belief. If you believe in a stroke, go for it, I told them. Rohit (Sharma) was sweeping and missing, but I kept backing him. That's how we looked at the game and that's why we came so close to the target. If at any point we had played for a draw we would have lost by 150 runs to be honest. Australia were far better than us in taking chances and grabbing opportunities. They deserved to win today,” said Kohli after the match.
“The chat I was having with guys in the middle was belief. If you believe in a stroke, go for it, I told them. Rohit (Sharma) was sweeping and missing, but I kept backing him. That's how we looked at the game and that's why we came so close to the target. If at any point we had played for a draw we would have lost by 150 runs to be honest. Australia were far better than us in taking chances and grabbing opportunities. They deserved to win today,” said Kohli after the match.