One-day cricket in this calendar year is not relevant, says Kohli

Auckland [New Delhi], Feb 8 (ANI): After facing defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the second ODI, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that one-day cricket in this calendar year is not as relevant as compared to T20Is and Tests.
“Look, we can take a lot of positives out of this particular game. As I said, one-day cricket in this calendar year is not as relevant if you look at the T20s and the Tests. But having said that, to show that kind of fight and to see who are the guys who can play like that under pressure is a big revelation for us. Pretty happy to see the fight that we showed in the end, but again, a game where we could have taken our chances and capitalized on it,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Kohli as saying.
BlackCaps defeated Team India by 22 runs and has gained a 2-0 unassailable lead in the three-match series.
Indian captain Kohli said that at one point New Zealand were 200/8 but the team gave away 30 more runs and the opposition side ended at 273.
“Particularly impressed with how we finished the game today. I thought in the first half we let things slip away from us a little bit. You know 200 for 8 and they got to 270-plus. I thought we gave away 30-40 extra there. But having said that, we were in trouble with the bat as well. I think Saini and Jadeja showed great character to bounce back. Shreyas Iyer played really well as well,” he said
Shreyas Iyer played a knock of 52 runs and Ravindra Jadeja smashed 55 runs and took the match close. While Navdeep Saini played a valuable inning of 45 runs in the lower order.
Kohli praised Navdeep Saini’s innings and said that lower-order contribution with bat motivated middle and top order to do well.
“I think Saini, in particular, was brilliant. We didn’t realise how good he can be with the bat and the fight he showed is a great sign for this team. If people in the lower order can show that kind of fight then it obviously gives more confidence to the middle order and top order to play in a positive manner from the first ball,” he added
Earlier, Guptill and Ross Taylor guided New Zealand to post a total of 273/8 against India in the allotted fifty overs. Yuzvendra Chahal scalped three wickets while Ravindra Jadeja took one.
Chasing 274, India got off to the worst possible start as the side found itself at 71/4 in the 14th over. Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer stabilized the Indian innings.
However, the task proved too much for Jadeja and in the end, India lost the match by 22 runs. (ANI)

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