Virat Kohli’s assessment of the match was as professional as his attitude that had helped him to lead his team to 19 Tests without a loss. The world number one team’s remarkable run came to a disastrous end against Australia in Pune as the visitors exceeded all the expectations to thrash the hosts by 333 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
The 28-year old, while admitting that it was just another match, insisted that one should not keep his emotions under check in all situations. But at the same time, he came down heavily on his team’s poor batting performance. On a pitch that provided ample turn right from day one, the Indian batsmen failed to apply themselves in either of the innings and were bowled out for 105 and 107. Speaking after the heavy defeat, the Delhi star shared his thought on his players, pitch and more.
Excerpts:
On the mood in the team after the defeat:
It’s fine. It is just another international game, it’s no big deal. It’s how you should stay calm and composed when you win, you shouldn’t get over excited. The same way you react when you lose, something that you take on the chin. We take failures and losses as an opportunity to learn. And the last time we had a performance like this [in Galle in August 2015], we had the most outstanding run after that. I would say that we needed something like this for us to get a reality check and understand what are the things we need to work on and keep persisting with it, not take anything for granted at any stage, especially at the Test match level, in international cricket.
So, as I said, the batting let us down in the both the innings. I would say, it was sustained pressure from the Australians but that also depends on how badly we batted in the first innings… [It] is the main reason why couldn’t get back into the game. The second innings was a case of us showing some intent and trying to get some runs. But when you have got a target so massive on the sort of wicket, as a bowler you can afford to get hit for 10 fours and still come back and get one wicket and you are back in the game. So, I think the mindset changes drastically when you don’t have a good first innings performance, especially in India, and it was very difficult to come back from that. Yeah, the batsmen need to pull their socks up.
On whether the spinners are as responsible as the batsmen for the defeat:
Not really. I think the way we batted in the first innings, I think we put ourselves under a lot of pressure, to be honest. Conceding a 160-run lead (155-run lead) on that kind of wicket is criminal actually. If we were close enough to their first innings total, the bowlers’ mindset is different in the second innings. The moment you give away 50-60 runs [on the lead], the game is drifting away already. It’s very difficult to pull things back from there, even a single run hurts from there on. And, I would say our batsmen put us in that position where it was very difficult for us to come back into the game.
I am not blaming the bowlers at all. They tried their level best. Someone like Umesh [Yadav] bowling well in the first innings was great to see on a slowish wicket. They bowled in good areas, they put Australia under pressure, they were going well in the first innings and we pulled things back nicely. A few things we can take away from this game but from bowling aspect. Our batting wasn’t up to standard and that’s certainly how we shouldn’t bat from here onward. This is all I can say, I think the batting let us down.
On the pitch and whether it was very different from the ones used in this home season:
I don’t think it was any different from the turners that we played in the past. We just didn’t play good cricket. You can ask me any sort of question or any perception about the loss. We know exactly what happened, the mistakes that we made. External perceptions don’t matter to us, they have never mattered to us. We played good cricket that’s why we won, we played bad cricket and that’s why we lost. That’s how we look at this defeat. We just want to take the learnings forward, improve and come back stronger in the next game. I can assure you that we are going to come back with more intent for sure and put Australia under pressure straight from ball one.
On whether his team was a batsman short:
I don’t think so. We wanted to pick up 20 wickets, we did manage to do that. I mean, not in time. I would say we did make breakthroughs but we could’ve done it quicker and if you don’t grab your chances in the second innings, if you drop five chances of one batsman then you certainly don’t deserve to win. If you get bowled out within 11 runs and lose seven wickets, you don’t deserve to win a Test match. As I said, you can speak about combinations… I’m sure you wouldn’t have asked this question had we won the game. The question changes drastically when you win or lose. A lot of things are result-oriented, but not with our team. We focus on what we can do right, and what we need to do right on the field, and we don’t drift away from that. Our mindset doesn’t change with the results.
On his dismissal in the second innings:
No, it was a judgement error from my side. I left the ball too early, I should’ve waited for the ball a little more. You can’t say which ball is going to turn or which isn’t. You’ve got to play the line and I certainly didn’t do that. It was my fault.
On whether playing on pacer-friendly wicket is tougher than playing on a spin-friendly pitch and vice-versa:
See, spin-friendly wicket or seam-friendly wicket, the only thing that matters is as a batsman how you apply yourself and what your shot selection is. Even on flat wickets, you can be dismissed. If your application isn’t right. I would say our application in this game was very bad. It wasn’t like one or two guys were involved in a long partnership. We couldn’t build any partnerships, I think that was our worst point. That’s one area which we worked on in the past few months with pride and executed it as well. I wouldn’t think too much about this Test. If after 18 or 19 Tests, we play one bad game, you have to accept that it’s a part of international cricket. I don’t know if people were thinking that we couldn’t lose at all, but in our mind, there was no such thing. If we don’t play good cricket, then any team can beat us.