Virat Kohli says he felt sorry for Ross Taylor

The Indian cricket team defeated New Zealand in the third ODI by 7 wickets in Mohali on Sunday, thanks to yet another ton by Virat Kohli. Speaking with the media after the match, Kohli said that he felt sorry for Ross Taylor who dropped a decisive catch.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni combined with Kohli and put on a 151-run stand during the Indian team's chase. While Dhoni got out after a well made 80 off 91 balls, Kohli made sure to remain till the end to guide the team to victory. He went on to score an unbeaten 154 off 134 balls during the chase.

However, the story would have been a lot different had Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor been a bit more alert during the 5th over of the Indian innings. Matt Henry was the bowler when Kohli tried to guide a short of a length delivery to the third man region. The shot was on as there were no slips but Kane Williamson had stationed a man at gully and Kohli guided it straight to him.

The ball came low but Taylor wasn't ready to take the catch and it popped out despite him getting both hands to it. Taylor tried to grab it on the second attempt but he failed. Kohli was batting on 6 then.

It was no looking back for Kohli since then, as the chase master went to record his 26th ton in ODIs and helped the team cross the line in 48.2 overs.

"A bit of luck went my way. I feel sorry for Ross, it's never easy to drop a catch and the batsman bats through. I've done that before, Brendon McCullum got 300 in Wellington so I understand the emotion," Kohli was quoted as saying to Stuff.nz website. While Kohli's innings proved to be a decisive one, the Kiwi skipper also came to the rescue of Taylor. He said, "It's part of the game, unfortunately. You want to catch them all but it doesn't work out that way."

Williamson, though, didn't take any credit away from Kohli's batting and said that it was vital to get Kohli out, "If you don't dismiss this man over here (Kohli), it probably doesn't matter how many you get," the Kiwi batsman was quoted as saying to Stuff.nz.

Virat Kohli is now fourth in the list of most centuries scored in ODIs, just two centuries behind Sanath Jayasuriya, four behind Ricky Ponting and 13 behind Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 49 ODI centuries.