New Delhi: India’s Test captain Virat Kohli said the team failed to capitalize on the momentum at crucial times South Africa beat India by seven wickets To win the three-match series.
Addressing the post-match press conference, Virat Kohli said that India lost a lot of wickets in a few sessions.
“It’s a collective responsibility. It was frustrating when we didn’t take advantage of the momentum. Had we captured those moments, we would have had better chances,” Kohli said.
Read | South Africa beat India by 7 wickets in 3rd Test, won the three-match series 2-1
Elaborating on the reasons behind the series loss, Kohli said that South Africa have scored well in the last two Tests.
Kohli said, “Our bowling power is different from him. He grew up on these pitches and he knew which areas to hit. He did it consistently. We tried to focus on our strength, but here It did not happen.”
Justifying his strategy of fielding five bowlers, Kohli said, “Do you think the lower order would have contributed more?
The captain praised wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for his unbeaten century in the third Test, calling it a high quality innings.
“Definitely a high quality innings given the nature of the bowling attack,” Kohli said. Mistakes happen but he learned from it. He is a special talent and it was a special innings.
Kohli, however, avoided a question whether some senior players would be dropped due to poor performances.
He said, ‘I can’t say anything about whether there will be any changes in the team or what kind of changes will happen. But it needs to be thought about.
On next week’s three-match ODI series, Kohli said, “I am looking forward to the ODI series and I want to perform in that series. We may have lost the last two Test matches, but we didn’t throw any more in our towels.” Quit easily for them. We fought hard.”
Keegan Pietersen on Friday led with a brilliant 82 as South Africa beat India by seven wickets to win the series-deciding third Test.
Rassi van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma put on an unbeaten 57 off 105 balls to chase down the target of 212. After losing the first Test at Centurion, South Africa made a remarkable turnaround and won the next two Tests.
Brief scores: India 223 and 198 lost to South Africa 210 and 212/3 in 63.3 overs (Keegan Pietersen 82, Rassie van der Dussen 41 not out; Shardul Thakur 1/22, Mohammed Shami 1/41) by seven wickets.
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