India had lost the first Test match of the two-match series against New Zealand by 10 wickets in Wellington. The Test match didn’t go in Virat Kohli’s favour. He lost his wicket cheaply in both the innings at Basin Reserve. Post the game, Kohli said that three-four bad innings can not demoralise him.
In the first innings, India had lost two wickets when Virat Kohli came to bat. The skipper had the responsibility to set up a partnership and to boost his team. But Kohli struggled to amid the condition of the sturdy winds in Wellington. The debutant Kyle Jamieson bowled a wide bowl to the No.1 Test batsman while Kohli misread it only to hand a simple catch at silly point. The Indian skipper was out after scoring just two runs.
However, Kohli believes that he is not lacking in batting whereas he expressed everything is going in his way.
“I am absolutely fine. I am batting really well. I feel that sometimes scores don’t reflect the way you are batting and that’s what can happen when you don’t execute what you want to well,” optimistic Kohli stated.
Virat Kohli is not affected by his poor show:
In India’s second innings, the batters again failed to deliver after conceding a massive 183-run lead to Kiwis in the first innings. Well, like the first essay, India’s top order got derailed. This time Indian skipper lost his wicket after scoring 19 runs.
Calculating his performance on this New Zeland tour, he has scored only one fifty in the last nine innings across formats. While Kohli believes its normal for a batsman when it comes to the poor run of form in three to four innings. Further, he went on to express that outsider’s opinions don’t matter to him much.
“Look when you play so much cricket and you play for so long, obviously you will have 3-4 innings that don’t go your way. If you try and make too much out of it, it’ll keep piling on,” Kohli said.
It’s all about if the team wins: Virat Kohli
“I think it’s about staying in a good space and I know the chat on the outside changes with one’s innings. But I don’t think like that. If I thought like people on the outside, I would probably be on the outside right now,”
Further, Kohli said that scoring a century is irrelevant if it didn’t help in winning the game. He further asserted that he is playing for the team’s cause.
“It’s all about if the team wins, even a 40 is good. If the team loses, then even a 100 is irrelevant for me, and I’m going to stay in that mindset,” he stated.
Meanwhile, India will head to play the second Test match at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch from 29th February.