Debasis Sen, Centurion: India skipper Virat Kohli feels that the soft dismissals in the second Test at Centurion was ‘unacceptable’ after his team lost the match by 135 runs and allowed South Africa to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match Test series today.
“At the end of the day one team has to lose. As a team you always try to win. You can accept defeat but not the way we played, the way we let the advantage slip out of our hand, that is not acceptable from a team’s point of view. So many soft dismissals in one match hurt a lot. Because you work so hard, you prepare for a match, you get into good situations, shift the game towards you, and then the momentum shifts because of these mistakes. That feels very bad as a team,” Kohli lamented at the post-match conference.
The visitors resumed the final day of the second Test at Super Sport Park in Centurion on 35/3 and the whole nation wanted a good fight from the World No.1 side, but they could only manage to reach 151 before getting all-out. Kohli blamed the batsmen for the loss as he said that the batsmen had let the team down.
“We failed to get a good partnership and take lead. We have let ourselves down. The bowlers have done the job but the batsmen have let the team down.”
“We tried but we weren’t good enough, especially in the fielding department. That’s why they (South Africa) are the winner,” he added.
According to Kohli they were a bit surprised by the wicket which was a bit flat in it’s look. The team had expected it to be much similar with the wicket of Newlands.
“We thought the wicket was really flat. Quite surprising. I told the guys the wicket looks different to what it looked before the toss. Especially after SA lost wickets in the first innings, we should have capitalised,” he said.
Talking about his batting performance in the first innings, Kohli said: “I want to leave everything on the field. That’s the way I play. 150-odd runs means nothing now that we have lost the series. If we had won, even a 30 would have mattered more. As a team, you want to win collectively.”