Johnson Charles, on way to his 97, on Sunday

Calcutta/Kingston: Not only did India lose their opening tri-series match against West Indies, on Sunday, they also lost captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni due to a hamstring injury.

Dhoni couldn’t keep wickets during the West Indies innings after sustaining the injury while batting. Virat Kohli was the stand-in captain. And after failing to lead India to victory as the hosts stole a one-wicket win, Kohli admitted that he missed Dhoni’s experience during the pressure situations.

“There were times when you are under pressure and you miss him (Dhoni), because he remains calm under pressure,” a disappointed Kohli admitted at the post-match presentation ceremony.

“I have captained in the IPL, but that’s a Twenty20 game. This was totally unexpected… It was more thinking on the feet. It was a good experience for me. I had to keep attacking fields throughout the game because we needed wickets,” he added.

According to Kohli, the wicket changed drastically when West Indies batted. “The way the wicket played in the second innings, the score wasn’t enough. But it was completely different in the morning when we batted, it was damp… It became better for batting later on.”

Kohli, however, praised his bowlers for keeping them in the game. “We tried to take as many wickets as possible, one or two edges going to the fielders would have been different, we were close to winning it. There was a bit of spongy bounce in the morning and (Sunil) Narine was getting some turn. It was just a matter of one wicket. It was a great fight by us and good entertainment for the spectators. West Indies had a great game,” he said.

Lauding Windies opener Johnson Charles’ Man-of-the-Match winning 97-run innings, Kohli said: “He is someone who’s done well for them. It’s a good thing for them. It’s good to see a young player from West Indies coming through and play a match-winning knock. We were putting pressure on him and he really stood up,” Kohli said.

The defeat snapped India’s winning streak, but Kohli took the defeat in his stride, saying it is not possible to win everyday. “You can’t be too disappointed with these kinds of games. We won seven in a row in England (Champions Trophy, including the two warm-ups against Sri Lanka and Australia) and in cricket, you can’t win everything. The way the guys fought was very pleasing. Everyone was hungry to win,” he added.

Like Kohli, Kieron Pollard too was a stand-in captain as Dwayne Bravo didn’t play the match.

Pollard was not bothered with the manner in which they won, he was just satisfied with result. “At the end, we got over the line and that’s what matters,” Pollard said after the match.

Chasing a 230-run target, West Indies lost wickets frequently before somehow managing to emerge the better side. “In the recent past, West Indies teams would have capitulated completely… So it shows we have a bit of fight and character in this side,” he pointed out.

In fact, like a proud West Indian, Pollard boasted of their aggressive style of play. “We are West Indian cricketers… We attack. If we get into our shell, we get out. That’s how we play cricket and it has worked for us. At the end of the day, you have to back yourself,” he said.

Reiterating the point that a victory should always be celebrated, Pollard said: “We have to be happy for victories… We cannot say we are not feeling so good because the tailenders got us over the line. They are batsmen in the team as well.”

He, however, didn’t shy away from the problems that there are in the current West Indian team. “It’s just a matter of us doing the things that we haven’t done so well, especially in the middle overs.” he said.

“As middle-order batsmen, we just have to take it upon ourselves and finish it for the team rather than depending on No.10 and 11 to win us the match,” he explained.

Standing in as the captain in a match that went to the wires, Pollard admitted that he felt the pressure at times. “At the start of the game, there wasn’t any pressure. It came later on when we were trying to win the game,” Pollard said.