After India’s first defeat at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, team’s vice-captain, Rohit Sharma addressed the media in Birmingham.

Rohit, who scored his third ton of the tournament, said that India’s slow run-rate cost them the chase.

Chasing 338, India lost KL Rahul early on. Rohit and Kohli then got together to add 138 runs for the second wicket.

“Virat and I decided to put on a partnership. We took a long time, yes, but those were the conditions,” Rohit said.

“Losing wickets put you under pressure and we lost KL [Rahul] at the start. They bowled well so it is only natural the guys who are in form bat as long as possible.”

India lost the plot when Rohit fell for 102. Hardik played a cameo but Morgan and Co. came with a definite plan to curtail his boundary options.

“The bowlers bowled well and we needed those guys to bat as long as possible. They were trying to hit the ball but in the end, it got pretty slow.”

England’s pacers took the pace off at the death, making India’s batsmen work hard for their runs.

“You have to give credit to England’s team because they mixed up their variation nicely and kept us guessing all the way through the game.”             

Yuzvendra Chahal went wicketless in Birmingham. Rohit also mentioned that the inability to pick wickets with the new ball put the two wrist spinners -- Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav under pressure.

“It's always challenging for the bowler, especially for the spinner, if you don't have any wickets down, and we know that they like to put pressure on the bowlers,” he added.

“And when Kuldeep and Chahal came to bowl, they already got off to a decent start, and they didn't allow them to settle down, which was, I think, a tactical move from their side against our two spinners.

“But it was just an off day for these two guys. We have seen them bowl in tandem really well and put pressure on the batting unit, the opposition rather.”

“So it's just one off day. Like I said, the England team, they played complete cricket. They bowled really well. They batted really well. They got the result.” Rohit concluded.

India will play Bangladesh next in a bid to secure their semi-final spot in Birmingham on June 02.