Losing to South Africa a blessing in disguise: Kohli

Kolkata, Oct 8. Prior to the third and final Twenty20 International (T20I), Indian middle-order batsman Virat Kohli on Thursday said losing the series to South Africa will act as a blessing for India ahead of the T20 World Cup to be held in the country in 2016.

In the first two games in the series which were held in Dharamsala and Cuttack, India lost by seven and six wickets respectively to give the Proteas the series win.

“As a team it hurts a lot when you lose playing at home. We are more used to the conditions here than the other team. But we have not played much T20 cricket since the World Cup,” Kohli said before the game.

“We have a lot of games coming up going forward to the World T20. We should be too hard on ourselves and should take lessons from these games. It is actually a blessing in disguise to work out our combinations before the World T20,” the right-hander added. Asked about captaincy and whether it affects his mentality he said: “No it doesnot change my mental set-up.”

The Indian Test captain is also confident after his batting form and added that he has been hitting the ball a lot better. “I feel good, I have been batting quite well since Sri Lanka. I have been talking a lot with our batting coach Sanjay Bangar and I feel I am hitting the ball quite well. I just have to work on my balance at the crease and my contact points,” the 26-year-old said.

 (IANS)