Virat Kohli: The ball didn't do much, Australia bowled similar lengths in first innings

At the post match press conference, Kohli said that the Indian batsmen's poor show made the Australian pacers look more lethal than they probably were.

Published : Dec 19, 2020 16:09 IST

Virat Kohli scored a fluent 74 in the first innings of the pink ball Test in Adelaide that Australia won by eight wickets.
Virat Kohli scored a fluent 74 in the first innings of the pink ball Test in Adelaide that Australia won by eight wickets.
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Virat Kohli scored a fluent 74 in the first innings of the pink ball Test in Adelaide that Australia won by eight wickets.

After losing the first Test in Adelaide inside three days, India captain Virat Kohli feels his team lacked intent and a plan to take the game forward in the second innings.

Coming into bat with a 62-run lead and nine wickets intact, the tourists lost eight wickets for 27 runs. Mohammed Shami was retired hurt after getting hit by a Pat Cummins bullet on his right arm; 36/9 is India's lowest ever Test score. It is also the lowest Test score since 1955 when New Zealand was dismissed for 26 by England in Auckland.

"It's a strange one. The ball did not do much. I think we did not have any intent to go out there with a plan to take the game forward. Everything happened so quickly that nobody could make any sense of it. It was quite disappointing because of the position we were in, from there to have an hour-and-a-half like that was surprising and disappointing for everyone," said Kohli, adding that there was no mental fatigue or lack of preparation.

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"It is just lack of execution. It is the lack of executing a plan that is apt for that situation which was Day Three, move the game forward. I don't think there is any mental fatigue involved.

"They bowled similar lengths in the first innings. We had a plan then. A bit of a lead can always be tricky. You always have to be positive. We lacked intent because we should have seen where the game should go and not where it was coming from. The way we batted allowed them to look more potent than they probably were in the morning because they bowled similar lengths in the first innings as well," said Kohli, who will return to India for the birth of his first child.

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Ajinkya Rahane will lead in his absence. Kohli is confident that his team will bounce back. "A few of the guys will realise their true characters and the team is going to bounce back in Melbourne. I don't  think we ever had a worse batting performance and we can only go upwards from here. You will see guys stepping up."

Kohli stressed on the need to accept mistakes as collapses can happen "again and again".

"This is not club level cricket and there is pressure involved in different stages. As batsmen, we take a lot of pride in doing the job for the team and we don't feel like we are vulnerable to get bowled out that cheaply. I don't think it is anything alarming. We can sit here and make a mountain out of a molehill. It is basically looking at things with the right perspective and knowing what we need to do as a team in Melbourne rather than think about the past. That is not productive at all."

No comfort zone

Kohli dismissed thoughts such as being in a comfort zone after gaining the first innings lead. The word is "pressure".

"There is no comfort zone in international cricket. There is no comfort zone in training or preparation. People who relate this to comfort zone should get a reality check. Players are not in their comfort zone at the international level."

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