India captain Virat Kohli on Monday admitted that they were “completely outplayed” by New Zealand in the two-Test series. The Indian batting totally crumbled under the pressure in the two-Test series and the skipper said that having a packed schedule, the team management will have to find solutions of this.

“Obviously quite disappointed with how we played in this series. I feel like we were completely outplayed in this series,” the Indian captain said. “We obviously didn’t play the kind of cricket we do as a team. The thing to take away from here is to not shy away from things that have gone wrong and instead address them straight up, and not be in denial.”

He was asked to talk about what exactly went wrong exactly where Kohli felt that the outlook towards a series in adverse conditions was “not ideal” from them. However, he was not happy of the Kiwis being called India’s “bogey team” as they lost to them in the 2019 World Cup semifinal and the ODI and two-Test series recently.

“I think the outlook as far as I am concerned, and as far as I saw things happening, was not ideal for us in this series. We were not positive enough. We were not brave enough in moments, which we have done in the past. Skills follow your mindset, simple as that.”

“I am sure no one was saying that in first half of the tour,” he said referring to his team’s 5-0 win in the T20 series. “You can’t just make a team a bogey team because of one Test series defeat and a semi-final loss. They played better cricket on that day, and in this Test series, and there is no shame in accepting that. We are not trying to create some controversy by tagging a team or naming a bogey team or something like that.”

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However, the captain is hopeful of a strong comeback in the upcoming series.

“There are two ways to look at it. I would much rather be in the middle and try to correct those things rather than having too much time in between and waiting for a game to arrive so that you can figure out whether you have corrected it or not,” said Kohli.

“The advantage of playing a lot of cricket is that if you are working on something, you have many games to try and execute it straight up. It’s the way you look at it. As I said, it needs to be balanced. Neither can you over-think nor be in denial. It works differently for different people,” he added.

“Something (clarity) we failed to do as a batting unit, and I truly believe that we made too much of the conditions from the first day onwards, of the first Test: overcast, a bit of dampness on the pitch we never spoke of these things before. If you’re not clear in your head then the feet don’t move, you’re not quite sure whether to play the shot or not, leave the ball or play the ball. I think these sort of things can creep in, and which have crept in our game in this series. It’s something we have recognised already,” he added.

However, Virat Kohli backed the underfire Rishabh Pant after his not so good Test series against New Zealand. Pant has been under the scanner for the last few months for his inconsistent form. His tally of 60 runs across four innings in the 0-2 Test series defeat to New Zealand, has raised the debate again whether it was a right decision to chose him over Wriddhiman Saha.

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“…we have given him (Pant) a lot of chances in the home season as well starting from Australia. Then he was not playing for a bit. In turn he really worked hard on himself,” Kohli came to Pant’s defence after the series.

“You need to figure out when is the right time to give someone else a chance. If you push people too early, they can lose confidence,” he added. “…collectively, we didn’t perform. I don’t believe in singling him out. We take the hit together as a group whether it’s the batting group or as a team.”

However, he was also asked if he believes Pant has taken his place for granted in the playing XI but Kohli gave a fitting reply to the reporters.

“I don’t see anyone taking his place for granted in this team. That’s the culture we have set. People are told to take responsibilities and work hard. Whether it happens or not is a different thing. Then you can have a conversation with the players,” he said.

“But no one has come here thinking I am going to play every game or I am indispensable,” he added. “The time that he didn’t play, he really worked hard on his game. So we thought this is the right time because of his game and the way he plays because he can make a difference lower down the order.

“That was our planning behind it. We can’t really fluctuate when it comes to what we planned,” Virat Kohli added.