India faced their first defeat in the ICC World Test Championship when they lost to New Zealand by 10 wickets in the first of the two Tests between the sides at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. The Indian batting faltered in both innings and did not put enough runs on the board. Skipper Virat Kohli later agreed that had they put a bit more pressure on the Kiwi bowlers, things could have been different.
“We take a lot of pride in being competitive as a batting unit and we were just not competitive enough. I don’t think we put their bowlers under enough pressure. Anything over 220-230 and we would have been talking a different language,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Even the deficit looks lot lesser if you get that score and take those last three wickets cheaply. The first innings really put us behind in the game and the lead put us under pressure,” he further added.
Dismissing the tail of the opposition has been an issue that has troubled the Indian team and it continued to do so in the first Test as the likes of Kyle Jamieson and Trent Boult scored crucial runs down the order which increased their lead even further. Kohli understood this problem and believed that his team will be able to bounce back and come up with better plans in the future.
“As a bowling group, we have been pretty competitive in bowling good channels for long periods of time. Till about 7 wickets, we were pretty good. The wicket did get better. The last 3 wickets and those 120 runs hurt us and pushed us out of the game. Overall, we did put in a good effort but can still be more disciplined. It doesn’t need to be pointed to them as the bowlers have recognized themselves,” Kohli asserted.
Prithvi Shaw was criticized for his poor technique and lack of patience which led to his downfall in both the innings. However, Kohli was quick to defend the youngster and believed that Shaw will come good with more experience. He was very composed and was of the view that a single defeat should not induce negativity in the thought process of everyone associated with Indian cricket.
“You don’t have to be too hard on the guys. Prithvi has played only two games away from home. He is a natural stroke maker and would figure out things to get the runs going. Mayank was outstanding in both the innings. Him and Jinks were the only two batters who got some tempo. We just need to stick our template as a batting unit,” he concluded.
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