We were not clinical with bat, failed to accelerate: Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli Sunday conceded that his side were not clinical with the bat on a flat pitch and failed to accelerate in their run chase as they lost to hosts England by 31 runs in a World Cup match here.

"...we weren't clinical with the bat I suppose, because the wicket was flat. We should have accelerated and gotten closer, but they (England) bowled superbly," Kohli said after India's first defeat in the tournament which brought England back into the reckoning for a semifinal spot.

"If we were clinical with the bat, if the dismissals didn't happen at that time, the result could have been different. We had a decent chance, when they (Pant and Pandya) were in there to strike a few and get closer to the target and trigger panic in their (England) dressing room. We kept losing wickets and that doesn't help in a big chase," he added.

Asked about Mahendra Singh Dhoni being found wanting in his bid to accelerate towards the end of India's run chase, Kohli said, "It's up to discussions with the two guys who were in there. I think MS was trying really hard to get the boundary but it wasn't coming off.

"They (England) bowled in good areas and the ball was stopping, hence it was difficult to bat towards the end. We have to sit and assess and improve on things in the next game."
"You just have to accept that the opposition played a better game on the day. They were just more clinical in terms of their execution of their plans."
"I thought they (England) were going towards 360 at one stage, so we did well to pull things back. 10-15 lesser runs would have been better. Ben (Stokes) played a superb knock and we were happy to restrict them to 330."