Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif believes that if star India player Virat Kohli had been part of the team, India would have beaten Sri Lanka in the second Test of the two-match series as well. Opting to bat, India declared at 503/9 after 138 overs, and in response, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 290 in 89.4 overs as well. With the rain factor in mind, India enforced the follow-on and looked favourites as Sri Lanka had lost six wickets and were leading by just 16 runs at the end of play
on Day 4 as well. However, on Day 5, Sonal Dinusha (133*) and the tail-enders of Sri Lanka declared at 429/9 after 154 overs, taking their lead to 216 runs as the game ended in a draw.

“Playing Test cricket is not everyone’s cup of tea, boss. It is a very long game, and you have to keep bowling continuously. I felt that if someone like Virat Kohli had been playing this match, he would have been constantly shouting and keeping his team switched on. At times, I felt we took things for granted, thinking, ‘Just keep bowling, it will happen. The ball is turning so much, it will happen on its own,’” he said on his YouTube channel (Mohammad Kaif).

“We created very few things ourselves. Our energy levels were also very low. That is why I am saying, if Virat Kohli had been playing this Test match, the result would have been different. The reason is that he would have been telling everyone, ‘Come on, Sarfaraz, come on, Jaiswal,’ and he would have gone after Sonal as well. Who were we getting into confrontations with? We were getting into confrontations with Kumara,” he further added.

READ HERE: Shubman Gill Breaks Silence On ODI Futures Of Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli

He also said that had Kohli been there, he would have kept shouting and ensured the team remained switched on as well. He also added that the team took things for granted as well.

“The player we actually needed to get out was Sonal, I saw a video of him saying something like, ‘Look at their faces, look at their faces.’ I just saw a video where he was saying this to Kumara in their local language. Basically, he was saying, ‘Look at their faces.’ The authority he had while batting showed that there was no pressure on him at all,” he added.

“There was no pressure from the sledging, nor was there a big player coming up to him and trying to unsettle him. When players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni or Ravichandran Ashwin are around and look at you like that, you feel the pressure. I felt we missed that as well,” Mohammad Kaif concluded.