London: India captain Virat Kohli conceded that team combination was ‘a bit off’ in the lost second Test against England and urged his struggling batsmen to ‘keep it simple’ in the head to save the ongoing series.
“I think we got the combination a bit off before the game. We have a chance to correct that next game. (At) 0-2 down the only option is to come out positive, make it 1-2 and make it an exciting series from there,” Kohli said after the game, Sunday.
Kohli reiterated that the batsmen’s problem is more mental than technical. “I don’t see any technical deficiency. If a batsman is clear in the head and has plans worked out, then if the ball does something off the pitch, you’re able to counter it,” asserted the Indian skipper.
“If my head’s clouded then doubts creep in. It sounds cliched but as the greats have said, ‘keep this game simple’, that’s all you have to do. You can’t come here and think the conditions are too difficult because they are really not if you’re prepared to counter them,” added the Indian skipper.
You can’t blame the openers or the middle-order. The fact is that we have failed as a batting unit. That’s it… period
Virat Kohli
The weather also did not favour India, who batted in overcast conditions while England scored their runs in bright sunshine on day three. Kohli, however, is not ready to throw that as an excuse.
“There is nothing to be gained from thinking about what has happened and thinking what if. Going ahead in this series, we need to look at the mistakes we’ve made in this game and correct them. A sportsman has no other option,” felt the captain.
Bowlers did well in the series opener but were not consistent enough at Lord’s, he said.
“You can’t control the toss or the weather. We didn’t play good cricket in this game. We bowled well in the beginning but didn’t hit our areas consistently. We didn’t get enough chances in the field to miss any, but with bat and ball we could have done much better than we did.”
During the second innings, Kohli batted at No.5 as his back problems resurfaced. The star batsman was hopeful that he would be fit in time for the next match.
