Virat Kohli explains why he chose to bat first in the 3rd T20I vs South Africa

Bengaluru: As India suffered a massive defeat against South Africa on Sunday, skipper Virat Kohli said that the decision of opting to bat first was taken in an attempt to get out of their comfort zone.

"The idea was to come out of our comfort zone and try to get that big score. But we quickly realized that the pitch did not allow us to keep doing that," Kohli said in the post-match press conference.

India faced a nine-wicket defeat after they failed to defend a low target of 135 runs in the third T20I match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

However, India have always produced a good result when they are chasing and the most recent example of this is the second T20I match when India won the match by seven wickets.

Kohli also said that such result will come as long as they will try to get out of their comfort zone.

"I think they hit the right areas, they bowled really well and understood the pitch. But these kinds of games will keep happening as long as we want to come out of our comfort zone as a team and putting ourselves in a situation which could be the case in a big game or a tournament," Kohli said.

As the batsmen failed to put up a good score on the board, Kohli defended his bowlers saying that they should not be 'analysed or criticised'.

"I think we did not get it right with the bat and you cannot be too harsh with the bowlers in a T20 game with that kind of total.... I think they should not be analysed or criticised," he said.

The three-match T20I series ended in a 1-1 draw and now both the teams will compete against each other for a three-match Test series, starting from October 2.

Kohli expressed his confidence for the Test series saying that, in their own conditions, India is always going to be a challenging team for any opposition.

"In our conditions, if not the best, we are one of the best teams. We know exactly what we need to do as a Test team. Playing in India, against a side like we have and the bowling attack that we have, is always going to be challenging. But at the same time you have to respect all the oppositions," Kohli said.