India skipper Virat Kohli said that his team had what it takes to bounce back and picked on mental strength and communication as the two things to be improved ahead of the second Test which starts here on Thursday.
Excerpts:
Can the team bounce back?
We definitely have it in us to bounce back. There is no point thinking about or living in the past. After the game was done we all got together in the evening, sat as a team and did not speak about cricket. Just to get your mind off. This is a learning curve. The guys will learn how to get over defeats and prepare for the next one.
On lessons learnt as a captain.
I was personally very disappointed. You can sense as a batsman when things are getting too much under pressure or people are not able to express themselves. I knew that when I went into bat. I tried to do a few things and it did not come off. What I learnt is that, communication is very important. When there is pressure, batsmen tend to go into their shell and don’t communicate well enough. Batting in partnerships doesn’t necessarily mean scoring runs together but it also involves motivating your partner. People need to speak. If there is a difficult situation, talk to your partner and sort it out.
On Stuart Binny.
It’s about making him grow as an all-rounder. I see him giving great balance to the team. His batting abilities are improving. Once he gains in confidence he is a pretty solid batsman. He has the ability to swing the ball from really good areas. In the home ODI series against Sri Lanka he was given the new ball too and he liked it. It’s about how you use him – as an attacking option or as a defensive option later on to give your other bowlers a rest.
Where is the team going wrong?
I think one aspect is the mental strength in difficult situations. It is something that we have touched upon after Galle. They need to be brave. It is very easy to go into a negative space. Individuals that stay in the positive space, turn the game around. Like Dale Steyn, Mitchell Johnson, Ben Stokes. Guys who can come in at the end of the day, when they are tired and down and get you that three-wicket spell. Just because they believe that they can make it happen.
