Bengaluru: Putting the shocking 333-run drubbing in the opening game behind him, India skipper Virat Kohli, on the eve of the second cricket Test here, assured fans on Friday that there won’t be a repeat of such abject failure in the remaining three Tests against Australia.
“We have the belief that we can win this series. I can assure you that everyone is taking this as a massive challenge and everyone is raring to turn things around in this series and play the kind of cricket we all know that we can play, and not take a backward step at any stage,” Kohli said at the pre-match press conference here.
“We know we didn’t play well and Australia did. That doesn’t mean that will happen in every Test match. If you play well every day, every session, then you will win the Test match. We didn’t do that. You will not get to see a performance like that again — that I can assure you,” he added.
The 28-year-old termed the massive loss in Pune as “hurting” as India did not show enough intent, but said sometimes these “defeats are necessary”.
“Sometimes these defeats are necessary. It is very rare that the whole team fails to contribute…Pune was one of those days. Pune was a disappointment because of the way we played, not that we lost but the way we lost. When you don’t have enough intent and you lose the game, that’s when it hurts you.”
“The defeat gives you an opportunity to understand what are the things we need to work on. Sometimes when you win, you don’t focus on everything because somebody or the other steps up. That’s always a good sign. But we cannot take anything for granted at any stage. It was not a setback…these things are also important in your Test journey,” he said.
While he refrained from revealing the playing XI for the second Test, Kohli threw his weight behind new all-rounder Jayant Yadav, who failed to impress on a turning pitch in Pune. Yadav could only manage two wickets and scored a bare seven runs in the match.
“Jayant has been outstanding. He has been brilliant, very intelligent. All of us go through the grind. Pune wasn’t his best game, but I won’t judge as he has played too little. He knows how to turn things around and will get back into the zone,” he said.
(IANS)
