Cape Town: The Indian bowlers bowled with gusto to bowl out the South Africans in both the innings of the first Test match but skipper Virat Kohli is well aware that it is of little significance if the batting order fails to make an impact.
India scored 209 in their first innings and could only amass 135 in the second, chasing a target of 208.
“Taking 20 wickets to win a Test match is the priority. But if your batsmen don’t bat well, then it doesn’t matter. If you are not getting close to their total, it doesn’t matter if you have taken 20 wickets or not. We needed to bat better than what we did,” said Kohli, after the 72-run loss in the first test.
Kohli felt for the bowlers as they had kept India in the game, constantly chipping away at the wickets before ending South Africa’s second innings effort to just 130, setting a gettable 208-run target.
“Definitely, we feel for the bowlers because they bowled their hearts out. A guy like Jasprit (Bumrah) bowled beautifully in his first Test match, he troubled the batsmen a lot this morning. Mohammed Shami bowled his heart out, Bhuvi was good as well and not having done the job, they will also be gutted about it,” a disappointed Kohli added.
But at the same time, he was hopeful of them emulating the same performance if they get a wicket like that of Cape Town once again in the Test series.
“At the same time as I said they know that can repeat that performance and if we get a lively wicket again, we can exploit those conditions,” he said.
However, he had words of praise for the young Hardik Pandya whose exceptional all-round abilities was a positive for India in the game.
“Hardik Pandya showed great character in the first innings to get us to that total. We needed if not one big partnership, then every wicket adding 30-35 would have done the job for us. We needed to show more character with the bat there is no question about it,” he said.
The skipper further elaborated that batting on tracks like that of Cape Town which are completely different from the sub-continent ones, require intent mixed with defence and attack.
“We lost four wickets in four overs. If you do that, it is very tough for you to come back and win Test matches from there. You want their bowlers to come back for second and third spells. We failed to do that and need to apply ourselves better.
“At the same time, we need to have intent because the kind of bowling attack they have. You can’t even be in a zone of not having intent and see off 35-40 overs. You need to find the perfect balance to do well in South Africa especially where there is more bounce. You cannot be casual at the same time you cannot have loose shots also,” explained Kohli.
The skipper also did not think too much about the criticism that followed for going into the Test match without having played a practice game.
“We were very well-prepared. I don’t think we felt any lack of preparation. Even they got out for 130 in the second innings and they play here all the time. It was a wicket where things were happening every day. We let ourselves down with the bat, that’s for sure,” said Kohli.
Kohli also showered praise on paceman Vernon Philander, who led from the front, decimating the Indian batting line-up almost single-handedly, registering his career-best figures of 6/42.
“Vernon is a different kind of bowler and he has different strengths. He will always pitch the ball in those areas in uncertainty and that’s his strength. He will also get the ball to seam both ways also,” Kohli said.
“You have to be at the top of your game every time you play against this bowling attack because of the variety as well. He bowled really well in the second innings when the ball wasn’t doing as much.
“At one stage when Rohit and I were playing, we felt pretty comfortable. We lost four wickets in four overs, which doesn’t really help the team’s cause especially when you are chasing a low total,” the 29-year-old added.
Kohli also felt that the Newlands pitch was an, “outstanding” one.
“The pitch was outstanding. I really liked the kind of wicket this was. I think it was great for Test cricket – getting a result in four days despite losing a day’s play, it was definitely not one sided, both sides were in it at different stages.”
He also urged his team to come back stronger in the next match.
“To not having got the job done, it hurts and it should hurt because that’s the only way you can rectify the mistakes and come out with more motivation in the next match,” Kohli said.
Picked Rohit over Rahane on form
Kohli also stated that Rohit Sharma was picked ahead of Ajinkya Rahane for the match because of his current form.
“Well, we decided to go on current form. Rohit has scored runs in the last three Test matches that he has played, and he was batting well, even in the series against Sri Lanka,” said Kohli at the post-match press conference.
“These things can always be looked at in hindsight – thinking what if or what if not. But we decided to go with this combination and current form was definitely the criterion,” he added further.