India vs South Africa | Having not won the game, personal milestones don’t matter to me, says Virat Kohli

South Africa regained the Freedom Trophy on the final day of the second Test against India as Lungi Ngidi finished with brilliant figures of 6/39, and was well supported by Kagiso Rabada, who finished with 3/47 to secure a 135-run victory and end India's nine-series winning streak. However, in a match where batsmen struggled, Kohli seemed well beyond the pack and scored a brilliant 153 in the first innings but the skipper said it meant nothing because the team lost the match and the series.

“I want to leave everything on the field, for my country, for my team. That’s the way I play. 153 means nothing right now that we have lost the series. If we had won, even a 50 or a 30 would have mattered more to me. Having not won the game, personal milestones don’t matter to me. As a team, you want to win collectively. We tried but we weren’t good enough. South Africa were better than us, especially in the fielding department, and that’s why they are the winners. And they deserve to be,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

With fast bowlers getting surprisingly little purchase in Centurion, India called Ravichandran Ashwin to bowl long spells on Day 1 and surprisingly, on the penultimate day of the Test, pacers got variable bounce which made the life miserable for the Indian batsmen. However, that can’t take the blame away from the Indian batsmen as the team failed to put up a fight and were bundled out for just 151. Barring Rohit Sharma, who scored a fighting 47 in the second innings, almost everyone struggled and the Indian skipper said that the visitors should have capitalised in the first innings where the hosts lost wickets quickly. 

“Yeah (the wicket gave us our best chance). We thought the wicket was really flat. Quite surprising. I told the guys the wicket looks different to what it looked before toss. I thought it was our chance to put some runs on the board. Especially after SA lost wickets in the first innings, we should have capitalised,” said Kohli.

“We failed to get a good partnership and take the lead. We have let ourselves down from the first game into the second. The bowlers have done the job but the batsmen have let the team down again and that’s why we stand here,” the 29-year-old added.