NZ vs IND 2020: Virat Kohli not too bothered by ODI series defeat; reveals there'll be changes made for the third ODI

India skipper Virat Kohli praised Ravindra Jadeja, Navdeep Saini and Shreyas Iyer’s gritty contributions with the bat in the team’s 22-run defeat at Auckland, whilst stating that the series defeat doesn’t bother him too much.

The Men in Blue failed to chase the 273-run target set by the Black Caps and were largely disappointing with the bat on the day. However, you also cannot take away anything from the New Zealand bowlers who bowled with incredible discipline and quality to seal their first-ever series victory over India since 2014.

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Kohli praised Jadeja, Saini and Iyer’s knocks, stating that the biggest positive from this series has been unearthing players who can assume responsibility when the team is under immense pressure. Kohli went on to say that the ODI series defeat won’t bother him a lot, as there is no huge ODI tournament in the vicinity in this year’s calendar, with most of the emphasis being laid on T20I’s and Test cricket.

"Two good games, it's great for the fans," Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

"I'm impressed with how we finished. We let things slip away from 200 for 8 to 270+ in the first half but came back strongly with the second half of our batting. We were in trouble with the bat, but Saini and Jadeja played really well, and so did Shreyas (Iyer, who made 52).

"It's upto the individuals to fight till the end. We didn't send them any messages, because those aren't what your instincts are telling you to do. We didn't know how good Saini could be with the bat, so if the lower order could be that good, then it inspires the middle order and the top order to step it up too."

"ODIs aren't too relevant this calendar year compared to Tests and T20s, but to find people who can play that way under pressure is a big revelation for us and a big plus," he said.

Kohli also revealed that there’ll be a few changes to the starting eleven in the third and final ODI to be played on 11th February since the game is a dead rubber and there’s no pressure of producing a positive result.

"We could consider changes in the final game, we have nothing to lose now. We'll play the expressive cricket that we're known for and not worry too much about the result."