Indian skipper Virat Kohli admitted that his team didn’t take good batting decisions after his side lost the third Test match at Leeds, Headingley by an innings and 76 runs.
The visitors were skittled out for a paltry score of 78 runs in the first innings and it was always going to be an uphill task from there.
England posted a total of 432 runs and took a gargantuan total of 354 runs to put their noses in front. India came up with a much better batting performance in the second essay as they were 215-2 at the end of day three but suffered another collapse as they lost their last eight wickets for 63 runs.
A lot of cricket pundits have questioned India’s playing combination as they have a long tail. India are playing with four fast bowlers who are not known for their batting credentials.
Thus, the cricket experts believe that India should play with one more specialist batsman or Ravichandran Ashwin, who can contribute with the bat while batting down the order.
However, Kohli emphasised that the first aim is to take 20 wickets to win the Test match and they are going to be aggressive in their approach.
The Indian skipper feels the top order has to take more onus on their shoulders to deliver the goods. Kohli added that if the top order is not being consistent, one batsman or the lower order can not bail the team out of jail.
Virat Kohli said in the post-match presentation, “It’s down to scoreboard pressure. We knew we were up against it when we were out for 80 and the opposition put up a big score. We put up crucial partnerships and saw the day through, but the pressure from the English bowlers was brilliant this morning and we didn’t respond well.
Batting collapses can happen in this country, the pitch was good to bat on, but their discipline with the ball forced us to make a few mistakes, and it was difficult to deal with spells where we weren’t getting runs. We didn’t make good decisions as a batting side.
The pitch looked good to bat on, and when England batted it hadn’t changed much, so they had a lot more intent with the bat, made better decisions. They were the deserving side to win to be honest”.
Kohli continued, “You could say that we don’t have enough batting depth, but the top order has to give enough runs to the lower middle order to step up.
The lower order can’t bail the team out all the time. We don’t have much other than the batting in the second innings to take from this game in terms of positives. Playing another spinner would depend on the pitch and we’ll take a call later. It depends on the moisture and how it will hold up for the five days.
The pressure from the fourth seamer is important sometimes and sometimes we have to make sure taking only three seamers means that the spinners have to come in quickly. We need to correct our flaws quickly and we’ve done this before, and we look forward to the Oval Test”.
The Indian batting unit has failed to deliver the goods in the last couple of years and the likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane haven’t been at their best as they have all averaged in the mid 20s.
India’s batting unit will need to pull up their socks and provide the runs for the team.
Kohli, Pujara and Rahane have all the experience under their belt and they will look to bounce back stronger than ever.
