Southampton: India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday indicated that he may bring in the right people with the right mindset to perform in the Test side just like their white-ball set-up where they have multiple players ready to shoulder responsibility at the highest level.
After his side lost the WTC Final, the Indian captain didn’t name anyone but expressed his displeasure at some of the players not showing enough intent to score runs which put pressure on the batting outfit.
Cheteshwar Pujara scored 8 runs off 54 balls in the first innings and consumed 35 balls for his first run. He then managed just 15 runs off 80 balls in the second essay.
We will continue to reassess and continue to have conversations around what are the things required to strengthen our side and not follow or fall prey to certain patterns, Kohli said at the post-match virtual press conference.
We will not wait for a year or so and have to plan ahead. If you see our white ball team now, we have great depth and guys are ready and confident. Same thing needs to be done with Test cricket.
You have to reassess and replan and understand what dynamics work for the team and how we can be fearless. Bring in right people who have right mindset to perform, the skipper hinted at overhaul.
He also spoke about finding ways to score runs. India scored only 217 in the first innings and were all out for 170 in the second effort.
We definitely need to work out better plans on understanding how to score runs. We have to stay in sync with the momentum of the game and not let the game drift away too much. I don’t think there are any technical difficulties as such “It’s more down to game awareness and being braver in putting bowlers under pressure and not allowing them to bowl in similar areas for longer periods of time unless it is absolutely overcast and ball swinging all over the place like it happened on day 1.
‘The endeavour would be to try and score runs and not worry about getting out in testing conditions. That’s the way you can put the opposition under pressure otherwise you are standing there hoping that you dont get out and you are not being optimistic enough. You have to take calculated risks against a quality bowling attack like NZ.’
Setting up a modest 139 to win, India did get initial breakthroughs. Once the experienced Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor stepped in, they shouldered the responsibility to get their side past India. Williamson played a captain’s knock scoring an unbeaten 52 and Taylor scored some valuable boundaries to ease pressure for his unbeaten 47.
Ravichandran Ashwin alone was successful in getting wickets while other bowlers had an off-day.
The final was hampered by rain and bad-light initially with weather picking up with time. Reserve day came to the rescue of what could’ve been a stalemate.
India scored a paltry 217 in its first innings when batting was really tough and there wasn’t much help from the middle order. In reply New Zealand were just 32 runs ahead scoring 249 with Conway’s useful 54 and Southee-Jamieson’s fine cameo. India’s uninspiring batting continued as Kyle Jamieson unsettled the batsmen’s rhythm. The Kiwis bowling out India for 170 had reduced the task of the batsmen.
The New Zealand batters played quality cricket to get past the target comfortably to win their first major ICC trophy.