The Indian skipper Virat Kohli didn’t mince his words in acknowledging that New Zealand outplayed them in the opening Test but said they “can’t help it” if a few want to make a “big deal” out of the 10-wicket defeat. Hosts New Zealand thrashed India by ten wickets at the Basin Reverse on Monday to take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match series. It was India’s first defeat in the World Test Championship, coming after two inept batting efforts.
During the post-match press conference, Kohli said, “We know we haven’t played well, but if people want to make a big deal out of it, we can’t help it as we don’t think like that. Some people might want it to be the end of the world but it’s not. For us, it’s a game of cricket we lost and we move on and keep our heads high. We understand that we need to play well to win, also at home. There’s no cakewalk at the international level as teams will come and beat you. You accept it and that defines our character as a team.”
Kohli said that he never concentrates more on the “outside chatter,” as if he had been doing that, he wouldn’t have been where it is now.
ALSO READ: Twitterati Erupts As India Suffers First Loss In WTC
The Indian skipper further explained, “If we would have paid attention to the outside chatter, we would again be at No. 7 or 8 in the rankings. If we have lost then we have no shame in accepting that. It means we didn’t play this game well. It doesn’t mean that we have become a bad team overnight. People might want to change our thoughts, but it doesn’t work like that.”
The self-belief is intact, and Virat has confidence in his squad to make a strong comeback in the second Test, which will be played in Christchurch in four days’ time. Talking about the lost Test, he felt that his team failed to get the right combination of being ultra-defensive and over-attacking.
Kohli elaborated, “New Zealand got into the mind of the batsmen and made the batsmen do something that they don’t want to. I think that’s a very thin line and a very delicate balance of when to attack and when to put bowlers under pressure which we failed to do in this match and there is no harm in accepting that.”
ALSO READ: Virat Kohli shares the reason for their defeat in the first Test
According to Kohli, it was a combination of both good bowling from the Kiwis and Indian batsmen, not putting the pressure back on bowlers, which led to the drubbing.
The Indian skipper asserted, “That has got to do with partly good bowling from New Zealand and partly us not pressing that momentum on to them when required. It was perfect for them because they bowled well and we allowed them to bowl well for longer periods rather than doing something about it in a partnership.”
