Virat Kohli: At least we know how to draw games now
Indian Skipper Virat Kohli has said that the team has now understood how to eke out a draw from a difficult position. While he refused to accept that the English spinners outperformed Indian spinners, he heaped praise on England opener Haseeb Hameed’s batting ability and strong character.
After being cornered into a precarious position on the final day of the first Test match against England, India came back to salvage pride in the form of a draw. While the wickets were tumbling at one end, Virat Kohli stood tall at the other end to see off the day.
With that, India ended their 13-match winning streak at home, and Virat Kohli feels that it is a blessing in disguise as the team now discovered a new facet of results.
“Well, at least we know how to draw games now. Before that, some people obviously were sceptical about our side knowing how to draw games. We either won games or we lost games. This was the thing I spoke with (Ravindra) Jadeja out there as well, that it was an opportunity for both of us to improve on another aspect of the game," Kohli said in the post-match press conference.
"Maybe in Test cricket in the future, we will have this situation again. Maybe we will have to apply ourselves again and show character, so have intent... to get runs in between but play percentage cricket, figure out areas where you want to take ones or hit boundaries but at the same time, be sure of your defence as well. So, it was a challenging situation but one that we countered really well, I thought.”
Virat, who earlier had said that the DRS wasn’t ‘rocket science’ and he didn’t need to go through a course to decipher it, seemed to gain a little more learning about the system from the game.
“You have to trust the wicketkeeper and the bowler, but at times you need to understand the bowler might push you to take it in desperation. While batting, one thing I saw was – it’s very important for the non-striker to stay as close as possible to the stumps. From a little wider from the stumps, the line of the ball is never judged. You always feel that the ball is straight but it’s actually pitching outside the line,” Kohli added
Despite the fact that Indian spinners struggled to get going in the game, as compared to their English counterparts, Virat ruled out the fact that the English outperformed the Indians in the spinning department.
“They bowled well but it’s not that they outperformed our spinners. It’s not that they took fifers and totally turned around the game. They should have won the game if they outperformed our spinners,” the Indian captain said.
The second Test of the series will be played from November 17 in Visakhapatnam.
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