Indian captain Virat Kohli on Monday said they were “just not competitive enough” after crashing to a 10-wicket defeat at the hands of New ...
Indian captain Virat Kohli on Monday said they were “just not competitive enough” after crashing to a 10-wicket defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the opening Test here.
Sent into bat after New Zealand won the toss, India were bowled out for a dismal 165 in their first innings, which eventually proved to be decisive on a Basin Reverse pitch that assisted the seamers.
“The toss did turn out to be very important. But at the same time, we take a lot of pride in being competitive as a batting unit, and we were just not competitive enough,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
“Anything in the region of even 220-230 would have made it different. As a bowling group, we have been pretty good. The wicket did get better.
“That first innings put us behind and then the lead put us under more pressure. The last three wickets and those 120 runs pushed us out of the game.”
Kohli was considerate towards his young batsmen but felt the bowlers could have been a bit more disciplined.
“The bowlers toiled well, as a bowling group we’ve taken pride in being competitive. Till the first seven New Zealand wickets, we were really good.
“We wanted to restrict the lead to under 100, but...
