The Indian batsmen were a complete failure during the first Test match against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in Wellington and Virat Kohli was no exception to it. The visitors, who are currently standing at the no.1 position in the ICC Test rankings and in the ICC World Test Championship points table, were bowled out for 165 and 191 runs in two innings, as they lost the match by a huge margin of 10 wickets. 

Apart from Ajinkya Rahane and Mayank Agarwal, none of the other Indian batsmen failed to handle the movement off the pitch and swing in the air generated by Tim Southee, Trent Boult and the bounce achieved by 6ft 8in debutant Kyle Jamieson. Even Virat Kohli, who is usually the most fluent of batsmen in any condition, was dismissed for just 2 and 19 runs in either inning.

However, the young protege Prithvi Shaw was one of the biggest disappointments. He was preferred picked over Shubman Gill, who had scores of 83, 204* and 136 runs for India A against New Zealand A previous to this series. On the other hand, Shaw had scores of 150 and 55 in List A games, on the same tour.

ALSO READ: Virat Kohli Loses His No.1 Position In ICC Test Rankings

However, Kohli wants to be patient with the Mumbaikar, given that he was out of the international game for a year and a half. Shaw had made an impressive Test debut against West Indies at home, where he scored a 99-ball century and following it up with another impressive score in the second Test match of the same series in 2018.

As per the quotes in Hindustan Times, talking about the same, Kohli said, “I don’t think at this stage, we need to sit down and discuss what’s going wrong because I don’t see anything wrong. It’s the execution of things that were not there. It is just a matter of understanding the pace of the wicket and conditions as soon as possible. Again, when he is in a clear frame of mind, he is very, very destructive. Once he feels that he can do it, I think it will be a different ball game. The mindset can shift very quickly.”

ALSO READ: Neil Wagner Throws An Open Challenge To The Indian Batsmen

Virat further felt that even Shaw wanted to play some gritty knocks, but the Indian skipper felt that the team needs to give him enough time to get used to the New Zealand conditions a bit and when he starts scoring, he will gain in confidence. He felt giving a long rope to the opener is in the best interest of both the cricketer and the team as well.