After an embarrassing defeat in the third Test against England at Headingley, India skipper Virat Kohli admitted that they crumbled in the face of relentless pressure created by the host bowlers in the first innings.
The visitors were bowled out for a paltry 78 in the first essay before conceding a huge first-innings lead of 354 runs. While Indian batsmen did a better job in the second innings but they still lost the game by an innings and 76 runs.
“Basically down to scoreboard pressure… Always up against it when you get out for under 80, and the opposition puts up such a big score,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“But we did well to stay in the game yesterday, fight back as much as we could, and gave ourselves a chance. But the pressure today was outstanding from the England bowlers and eventually they got the results they wanted,” he said.
Team India were 215/2 at stumps on Day 3, trailing the hosts by 139 runs in the second innings with Cheteshwar Pujara (91) and Virat Kohli (45) unbeaten in the middle.
However, India’s innings folded for 278 in the first session on Day 4 as England pacers led by Player-of-the-Match Ollie Robinson wreaked havoc on the touring batting line-up.
The Indian captain said the batting collapse they suffered in the first innings was “quite bizarre” after their stupendous show in the Lord’s Test.
“It can happen in this country, batting collapses. We thought the pitch was good to bat on, coming on nicely. But the discipline forced mistakes and the pressure was relentless. Difficult to cope when you’re not scoring runs. That caused the batting order to crumble,” he said.
When asked if his decision to bat first at Headingley was a mistake, Kohli replied: “No, pitch looked good to bat on, when England batted it was a different ball game because we weren’t as good with the ball. The result is a reflection of how the teams played in this game, we expected them to bounce back.”
At Lord’s, India’s tail-enders brought them back in the contest and Kohli said they can’t always depend on the lower-order batsmen to rescue them.
“Depth, it’s an argument you can have. The top order has to give enough runs for the lower middle order to step up. We did pretty well in the first two games, when you have a result like this you can’t take too much from it. As a batting group we need to stay close and confident, even after 36 all out (in Australia) we came back,” he remarked.
Virat Kohli answered diplomatically when enquired about the inclusion of one more spinner in the playing XI for the fourth Test, starting September 2 at the Oval.
“It depends on the pitch. We will assess the surface, how much moisture is there and our decision will be based on that. I think this template works, the four seamers (in these conditions). For sure, we set the template, you’re playing Test cricket and we’ve bounced back in the past.
“There are things we need to improve but we will take pride in trying to correct those errors, something we are looking forward to,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
