It was a complete performance, says Virat Kohli

Kohli
Indian test captain Virat Kohli at the post match press conference in Antigua. Image Source: Xtra Time

Debasis Sen, Antigua:Indian skipper Virat Kohli lauded the performance of his teammates for the stupendous win over West Indies in the first test here at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium in Antigua. India went 1-0 ahead in the series with the biggest win in a test match outside the sub-continent. Kohli termed his team’s win as a “complete performance”.

He credited all his team mates for the clinical performance they have put up for the last four days. He had a special praise for Mohammed Shami, who marked his return to the five-day format after a long injury layoff with four first-innings wickets. Ravi Ashwin came up with an all-round performance in the test match as he returned with figures of 7/83 along with the hundred that he scored in the first innings. He was deservedly declared the Man of the Match.

“Wow, I didn’t know that,” Kohli said when told that this was India’s biggest win outside Asia, before adding, “Just feels good to get a win on the board, always good to start well. Good prep time, for three weeks. Everyone was excited, we’d enough practice. It was a complete performance.”

Kohli emphasised on the need to score runs quickly to aim for a win.

“Scoring wasn’t easy, initially West Indies bowled well. A couple of their bowlers rushed us, 70-odd for 2 with five batsmen, had to take responsibility. Shikhar was playing really well and I wanted to be positive, if you want to win a Test you have to score quickly and get the bowlers a chance to bowl the opposition out twice.

“Then Ashwin played a brilliant innings down the order, it was a team batting performance. If we’re playing five batsmen, we wanted to deepen the order. We had Saha at No. 7 and Ashwin was good enough to bat at No. 6. He was a pure batsman before he became an offspinner.

“It is always good to have someone who can do pretty well in both. Our initial thought was three spinners, but the amount of grass made us go with three quicks.

Kohli lauded the performance of his bowlers particularly the seamers who bowled their heart out in testing conditions. According to Kohli,“Ishant bowled well without luck. Shami and Umesh were outstanding. They way they bowled on a wicket like this, they rushed the batsmen. Someone like Shami, who is coming back after surgery and proving himself, says it all. He’s a perfect Test bowler, hits those perfect deliveries to get batsmen out.”

He also spoke about the way the team prepared for the series.

“The way we prepare is important. Sandeep Patil asked me if I could hit a six through the innings and I said playing five batsmen, I can’t hit sixes. We want to win every game we play, that’s always been our vision and aim. I’m confident and aim in the skill we have.

“If they give us a dry wicket, three spinners come into play with Jadeja’s batting. In the field we were good too, Saha with six catches. Need to be confident, but not complacent,” Kohli said.

Man of the Match Ashwin, who scored a century in the first innings before adding seven second-innings wickets, said he was trying to work on his rhythm today.

“I wasn’t finding my rhythm in the first innings. Virat gave me a long spell after lunch today and I was working on my rhythm with Anil bhai as well. Worked on it, you finish your action well, I wasn’t getting a long enough spell, but today it was different.”

West Indies skipper Jason Holder felt they did not bowl well enough.

“India put up a pretty good first innings total, we didn’t bowl well. It’s a daunting task chasing 566. We had some good performances. Brathwaite and Dowrich bowled well. But we didn’t get enough partnerships going in our innings. We have to really bowl against a strong batting line up like India,” Holder said.

He added, “We’ll see the conditions in Jamaica and then see the combination. Not too sure of the pitch there. Just think we need to see what happens. Normally it’s flat. Hard to predict conditions in the Caribbean of late.”