Leeds: India skipper Virat Kohli said on Saturday that his team’s batsmen have a challenge at hand in the remaining two Tests against England bowlers delivering immaculate lines and lengths.
“Basically, they bowled a lot better than us in this match,” said Kohli to the media after India’s innings and 76-run loss to England in the third Test.
“The way they bowled in the morning with the new ball, the areas they bowled at, the lengths they bowled, you have to be precise [against that] with everything in your decision making. It is not like you will make an error and your edge is so far that the delivery won’t catch. We have to accept this, they won’t make it easy for us here,” added Kohli.
Indian batsmen were like cats on a hot tin roof at Headingley as England dismissed them for a paltry 78 in the first innings on the first day. And when the visitors were looking good enough to make a match of it in the second innings, Ollie Robinson & Co ran through the middle and lower-order to scalp seven wickets in 54 minutes and for just 41 runs.
The right-armer Robinson picked 5/65.
“Here we have to make a double effort to score runs. Double the concentration. We should take this as an opportunity and a test. We have to show what character and patience we have,” said Kohli.
The 32-year-old, who has failed to get an international century for close to two years now, said that batting in England requires patience. The batsmen need to build partnerships.
“Here, you can’t hit and get out of a situation. You have to build the game patiently. Partnerships are very important. People get obsessed with numbers here. Eventually, what matters are partnerships. Here 250-300 runs can also become a big total in the first innings. If you build partnerships of 50-60 runs, they will take you far. We have to focus on that and work on it. Work on effective batting partnerships.”
