Indian captain Virat Kohli has blamed the team’s poor batting for breaking the dream of winning the Test series in South Africa, saying he doesn’t see any other important reason apart from this. The South African team had a target of 212 runs to win the third and final test, which they achieved after losing three wickets and went on to win the series 2-1.
India got off to a great start by winning the first test at Centurion by 113 runs, but lost the second match by seven wickets in Johannesburg. South Africa shattered India’s dream of ‘conquering the last fort’ by winning the third Test by the same margin.
At the post-game award ceremony, Kohli said hitting turned out to be the team’s weak link, and other than that, he can’t blame anything else for the loss at this point. Kohli said it was the hitting (which led to the loss). Apart from this, no other aspect can be questioned. People talk about fast bowling and rebounding, looking at their length (South African bowlers), they have been able to get more assists than wickets in all three test matches.
The Indian captain also said that we had to pay the price for lack of concentration at critical moments. The opposing team knew how to name those moments. The South African bowlers were able to hold us down for a long time and force us to make mistakes. He understands these situations very well.
The Indian team could only score 198 runs in the second inning, even after Rishabh Pant’s century, so South Africa didn’t get much of a goal. The Indian captain said, you have to improve your batting, I’m not running away. Several times during the series, after one of our batsmen had returned to the pavilion, several wickets fell in a row. This is not good. I’m obviously very disappointed about this.
He further said, we know how long we’ve come as a team. People hoped that we could beat South Africa on their soil, this is a testament to our past successes.
Kohli said, this time we can’t do it and this is the truth. I will accept it and come back as better cricketers. We would also like to give credit for this victory to the South African team.
Calling it a great series, Kohli said, it was a great test series for everyone. It has been a very hard-working series. The first match was great, but South Africa did surprisingly well. He won both tests. He was able to perform better with the ball in difficult conditions.
Kohli praised the hitting of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal during the series. He said, I think the way KL Rahul hit as a starter was excellent. Mayank also did well on several occasions. Our bowling was excellent. Rishabh’s entries in this test were special. Centurion’s victory was also special.
,