A dejected Virat Kohli admitted that India’s hitting performance on Day 3 of Adelaide’s Test against Australia was by far the worst it has ever participated in, but urged people not to make a ‘mountain of a grain of sand ‘as his team suffered a crushing eight – Ticket loss to Australia on Saturday.
When asked if the team became complacent heading into the test series following their victory in the T20I series and the fact that they beat Australia two years ago, Kohli downplayed the idea of the comfort zone, saying that terms like they have no place in international cricket and that those who think otherwise need to “reality check”.
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“There is no international comfort zone. There is no comfort zone in preparation or training. Therefore, people who want to relate this to the comfort zone should check that it is a pressure and not a comfort zone. After playing for so long, I can definitely tell you directly, ”Kohli said during the virtual press conference.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a worse hitting performance than this. So we can only go up from here and you will see the guys step up and realize their true characters. “I don’t think it’s alarming and we can sit here and make a mountain out of a grain of sand, it’s basically looking at things from the right perspective.”
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Batting collapses are nothing new in Indian cricket, but under Kohli’s captaincy, the pattern seems to repeat itself far too often. When the team toured South Africa in 2018 and then New Zealand in February 2020, as Indian bowlers got up and delivered merchandise, their hitters collapsed under pressure.
It’s getting worse, especially in the SENA nations (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia), and Adelaide 2020 was just another chapter in India’s long history of batting collapse. To that end, Kohli made it clear that hitting collapses are inevitable, but what matters is that the team learns the valuable lessons from it.
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“He just talked about five or six batting collapses in 8 to 9 years if I’m not mistaken. There will definitely be breakdowns over and over again and we have to accept our mistakes and what we have to work on, ”he said. “This is not cricket at the club level and obviously there is a lot of pressure involved at different stages and as hitters, we are proud to do our job for the team. We are not vulnerable to going out cheap or to collapse. “
India’s confidence is sure to be shaken after this embarrassing defeat, and with Kohli set to return home, India without Rohit Sharma until Test 3, and Mohammed Shami remains a dubious starter after a blow to his hand, how team plans to bounce back remains to be seen, but outgoing Kohli has expressed confidence in his team to bounce back from the result and put on a better show in the remaining three rounds.
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“We have played enough cricket to understand what to do in the different stages of a test match and it is just lack of execution,” Kohli said.
“I definitely would have loved it if we had won this game. To come out with the victory would have been great, but that said, this is test cricket and anything can happen at any stage. I am sure the team will bounce back in Melbourne and few of the guys will realize their true character and how they can step up for the team. I’m very confident that we will definitely learn from this. “
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