Xtra Time Web Desk: India skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday said he cannot start analyzing after one loss as a captain. According to Kohli, the management is not going to start analysing that because we are not failing as a team. India was blown away in the third test at Headingley, losing by an innings and 76 runs to surrender the lead they had taken at Lord’s.
“Well again, as I said, with one loss I cannot assess that or I cannot start analysing that as a captain. Definitely the management is not going to start analysing that because we are not failing as a team.
“Consistently we are not losing, this is what I mean, when I say that, we definitely failed this game as a team and we take responsibility for that,” Kohli said at the virtual post-match press conference
Kohli backed under-fire wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, saying the team management will give him all the space that he needs in the remainder of the five-Test series against England. The 23-year-old Pant, who has played in all the three Tests so far in the ongoing England series, hasn’t been able to get going with the bat, managing 25 at Nottingham, 37 and 22 at Lord’s, and 2 and 1 at Leeds for a total of only 87 runs.
“Similar conversations were being initiated about (Cheteshwar) Pujara as well, which seemed to have disappeared after yesterday, so we want to give, as I said in the past, Rishabh all the space to play his game and understand situations and take responsibility like it is expected of everyone else in the batting order,” said Kohli.
According to Kohli, cricketers cannot be judged all the time on the basis of numbers.
“You can’t judge people all the time on numbers, and whether they are succeeding or failing, that is not how you make a team.
“There is still time in this series. After two more Test matches, we can look back and reflect and analyse, okay these are the areas that were not quite right but at this moment, it’s not the time,” the skipper said.
He added, “We are very pleased with how Cheteshwar batted this innings, outside noise, we don’t know what’s going on and we don’t care. So that is none of our business.”