London: India skipper Virat Kohli said, ‘the top order has to give enough runs to the lower middle order to step up’.
Expressing his disappointment at a huge loss to England (By an innings and 78 runs) in the third Test, Kohli said, ‘We need to correct our flaws quickly and we’ve done this before, and we look forward to the Oval Test.’
Kohli said, ‘It’s down to scoreboard pressure. We knew we were up against it when we were out for 80 and the opposition put up a big score. We put up crucial partnerships and saw the day through, but the pressure from the English bowlers was brilliant on day four and we didn’t respond well. Batting collapses can happen in this country, the pitch was good to bat on, but their discipline with the ball forced us to make a few mistakes, and it was difficult to deal with spells where we weren’t getting runs. We didn’t make good decisions as a batting side. The pitch looked good to bat on, and when England batted it hadn’t changed much, so they had a lot more intent with the bat, made better decisions. They were the deserving side to win to be honest.’
Kohli added, ‘ You could say that we don’t have enough batting depth, but the top order has to give enough runs to the lower middle order to step up. The lower order can’t bail the team out all the time. We don’t have much other than the batting in the second innings to take from this game in terms of positives. Playing another spinner would depend on the pitch and we’ll take a call later. It depends on the moisture and how it will hold up for the five days.’
‘ The pressure from the fourth seamer is important sometimes and sometimes we have to make sure taking only three seamers means that the spinners have to come in quickly. We need to correct our flaws quickly and we’ve done this before, and we look forward to the Oval Test.’