'Why blame him alone?' – Arun Lal backs Virat Kohli after India's WTC final loss against New Zealand

India ended up on the wrong side of the result in the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship. The Virat Kohli-led side suffered an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of New Zealand. The loss in the WTC Final has invited a lot of criticism for the Indian team and the players.

One of the main reasons for India’s loss in the final is the disappointing performances delivered by the Indian batting unit. Batting first, India could post only 217 runs on the scoreboard with skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane scoring 44 and 49 runs respectively. 

This was followed by an even torrid performance in the second innings as the entire Indian team was bowled out for 170. No batsman showed responsibility to score runs and take the team towards a respectable total. While the fans have subjected all the Indian players to disparagement, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli tops the list.

Kohli has been receiving most of the criticism from the cricket fraternity for his poor performance and his dismissal against Kyle Jamieson in both innings. In the meantime, former Indian batsman Arun Lal had Kohli’s back. Lal, who played 16 Tests and 13 ODIs, is the present coach of the Bengal cricket team.

Arun Lal backs Virat Kohli

Lal believed that Kohli was unlucky in his dismissal during the second innings. The veteran added that no one can say that he got out to a bad shot. He also reckoned that one can’t blame the batsman alone as all the players delivered a disappointing performance. 

“Look, Virat made a mistake, and that happens. There’s so much pressure on him, while the ball was also moving a lot in such conditions. Prior to that, he was covering for the ball that came in as he was lbw last time. Now, if you are unlucky, you will nick it. Besides, that was a very good spell by (Kyle) Jamieson (in the second innings),” Lal told The Telegraph.

“We can’t really say it was a bad shot. Your foot is two feet away from the ball and you still hit it for a boundary, everyone then says it’s a classy shot. But you miss a similar kind of ball and it takes the edge, people will then say, ‘No footwork, playing away from the body… Horrible shot. That’s not the way you should deal with it. Besides, all our batsmen looked vulnerable against the Dukes’ ball. Why blame Virat alone?” he added.