The ongoing five-match One Day International (ODI) series between India and the West Indies has taken an interesting turn. After India’s emphatic eight-wicket victory in the series opener in Guwahati, Windies bounced back and tied the second ODI, while they won the third game by 43 runs on Saturday.

Speaking to media after the match, Virat Kohli heaped praise on the bowlers. However, the Delhi batsman also said the finishing could have been better. India conceded 72 runs in the last 10 overs after having the visitors reeling at 211/6 after 40 overs.

“We bowled pretty well. I think the wicket was not offering much in the first 35 overs. Later half it became difficult. From 227 for 8 we should have been chasing 250-260 at the maximum. The bowling effort was professional just that we gave it away in the last 10 overs,” Virat Kohli said.

Virat Kohli further said, “It was a pretty gettable total. We did not get the partnerships going, that does not happen too often. In the field we were fine. We didn’t execute our plans to perfection. This Windies side is an explosive side and they can beat any team on a given day. They played better cricket and they deserve to win.”

The 29-year-old also mentioned that India missed the services of the likes of Hardik Pandya or Kedar Jadhav. “Look when Hardik and Kedar both play, we get the extra option. When someone like Hardik is not playing, who gives you both bowling and batting option, it is difficult to get the balance. Kedar comes into the side in the next game, that’ll give us the balance and depth in the batting. You will always drift to one side when you don’t have the balance. We have to think about the perfect balance we need,” Kohli stated.

When Virat Kohli was asked about his 38th century in the limited overs game, he said, “I don’t want to talk about my batting. It is a bit embarrassing when people ask you the same thing again and again. I wanted to go after him (Samuels) and just did not execute well. Definitely, we have to take the wins and losses in our stride, was just a bad day at the office. Just shake the loss away. Our plans are in place and we just need to execute better.”