Don’t make mountain out of a molehill, says Kohli after lowest team total

Indian captain speak about batsmen "lacking intent" to take forward the lead and although he didn't take names

Adelaide: India captain Virat Kohli can’t remember a “worse batting performance” by his team than the lowest ever Test score of 36 against Australia here but at the same time, he has urged people not to “make mountain out of a molehill”.

He did speak about batsmen “lacking intent” to take forward the lead and although he didn’t take names, Mayank Agarwal’s approach (9 off 40 balls) in the morning was hard to explain when the team had a 62-run overnight advantage. “I don’t think we have ever had a worse batting performance than this. So we can only go upwards from here and you will see guys stepping up and realising their true characters,” Kohli said in the post-match press conference after his team lost the first Test to Australia by eight wickets.

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The Indian captain desperately tried but looked at pains to defend the indefensible — another inept overseas batting show with six successive scores of less than 250 just this year. “It’s a strange one to be honest in my opinion. The ball didn’t do much but we didn’t have too much intent of going out there and taking the game forward,” he lamented.

“Everything happened so quickly that no one could make any sense of it,” Kohli was unable to fathom what hit his team. Under Kohli, save the 2018 series in Australia, the Indian team has had way too many batting collapses including six on the trot, starting with New Zealand early this year, but strangely the skipper felt there isn’t anything alarming about it. “I don’t think it’s alarming and we can very well sit here and make a mountain out of a molehill, it’s basically looking at things in the right perspective,” he reasoned.

In fact, there has been close to 15 innings in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) where the team has failed but the skipper could remember only six in 8-9 years. “You have just spoken about five or six batting collapses in 8 to 9 years if I am not wrong. There will definitely be collapses again and again and we have to accept our mistakes and what we need to work on.

“This is not club level cricket and obviously there is a lot of pressure involved at different stages and as batsmen, we take pride in doing our job for the team. We are not vulnerable to getting out cheaply or vulnerable to a collapse,” the skipper asserted.

He acknowledged the strategic mistakes by his teammates. “We played enough cricket to understand what needs to be done at different stages in a Test match. It’s just lack of executing a plan which is apt for that situation on Day 3,” he said. “We arrived today with 9 wickets in hand. We should have definitely put in a stronger batting performance. I don’t think any mental fatigue is involved and I don’t think that’s a factor,” he ruled out the burnout aspect completely.
While Josh Hazlwood and Pat Cummins were brilliant in their lines and lengths, the skipper felt that they didn’t do anything different compared to the first innings.

“Look they bowled similar lengths in the first innings also. We were just better in terms of handling it and having a plan around it how to go about it.’’

Kohli admitted that once again, India let the Australian tail wag, allowing the home team to reach 191 from 111 for 7 at one stage with as many as four catches being dropped during the innings. “It was very crucial. I think they were 7 down for 110 when Tim Paine offered a chance. Teams will not offer you opportunities again and again, you have to grab it when they come your way.’’

Kohli will go on paterity leave now to be there for the birth of first child with actor wife Anushka Sharma next month.