Considering the way Indian batsmen got undone by South Africa’s fiery pacers in the first Test at Newlands, there has been plenty of hue and cry concerning the team composition. Team India made 209 and 135 in the two innings of the first Test that ended in just under three days with the visitors losing the contest by 72 runs.
However, India skipper Virat Kohli feels that despite the mistakes committed, his batting unit is in much better shape for this game and there is no need to press the panic button yet.
"I feel that definitely the batting order, through mistakes we committed in the first game and through the experience we gained in the first game, we are certainly in a much better shape to come at their bowling attack in this Test.
"I don't think we need to panic because of collapses. Whether we are playing five batsmen or six, you still need to apply yourself. It doesn't mean that if you are playing six batters, you can afford to go out and play loose shots. You still need to have a solid technique and go out there and be ready to face spells, which are going to be difficult. We need to embrace that," Kohli quoted at the pre-match press conference.
India's slip catching hasn’t been up to the mark in the last one seasons, but the skipper defended his teammates stating that it was impressive in the last game and he doesn’t want to think about the past.
"I am not going to sit here and talk about the last one year. The last game was pretty good, apart from one dropped catch from Shikhar in the first innings, which we looked at as a team. We want to plug all those game."
"What's happened in the last year does not matter. What matters is what we are going to do from tomorrow onwards to try and win this Test match," concluded Kohli.
India Test Squad:
Virat Kohli(c), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Parthiv Patel, Jasprit Bumrah
