India skipper Virat Kohli was shell-shocked after Australia turned the tables and dismissed his side for 36, their lowest total in Test history, before going on to score an eight-wicket win to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series.
“Very hard to put those feelings into words. We had a lead of 60-odd coming and just collapsed. When you work hard for two days and put yourself in a strong position and then an hour puts you in a position where it’s literally impossible to win…,” said Kohli appearing at a loss of words after the match.
He lamented that the batsmen did not show enough intent.
“I think we should have shown a little more intent today. They bowled similar kinds of areas in the first inning as well but probably our mindset was to score runs.
“To be honest, there were some good balls but the ball didn’t do anything drastic. I think it was the mindset, it was very evident. It felt like the runs were so difficult to come by and the bowlers got confident. I think it was a combination of lack of intent and the bowlers hitting their areas,” Kohli added.
Kohli will leave for India after this game to attend the birth of his first child. He, however, expressed confidence that the rest of the boys will perform well to make a comeback in the series.
“Obviously you want to be committed to the team’s cause, a result (for us) would have been really nice. But I’m pretty confident that the boys going forward will reflect on this and come back stronger in the Boxing Day Test (starting on December 26 at Melbourne),” he added.
Kohli added that there was no news on Shami, who was injured during India’s innings.
“No news on Shami, he’s going for a scan now. Could hardly lift his arm. We’ll get the scans now and will know more in the evening.”
