Not Rahane Or Pujara, It Is All About Team : Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli even after facing a terrible loss in New Zealand in the Test series has supportive words for his batsmen. Kohli went on to back Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara as he termed it as a collective failure.

Indian batsmen failed to set a good score in the first innings. The bowlers did well enough to restrict the hosts for a minimal score. In the second innings, the Indian batting unit was even worse and eventually lost the Churchgate Test in a 2-0 whitewash by the Kiwis.

Virat Kohli defends Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara

Kohli on Rahane

Virat Kohli did talk about the batting failure of the team but was not keen to point fingers at individuals. He spoke about Ajinkya Rahane who failed to deliver which does not necessarily make Rahane a bad player to the captain. Kohli explained, “Jinks (Rahane) is one of those players who has been very solid for us in Test cricket. I don’t look at averages and numbers and those things too much. It is about impact performances. Has he been able to make enough impact performances for the team? The answer for me is yes. Whenever we have required an important performance from him, more often than not he has delivered.”

The skipper further added, “Also have to figure out how many guys in your team do average more than 42-43-44, so if you have a solid middle order, you need to make sure those guys are playing together enough. Few games here and there, if you don’t execute those things properly, it doesn’t mean you become bad players. So Jinks for us, we are not even thinking about those kind of things. He has been solid for us. He has put his hand upon many occasions when the team has been in trouble so there are no issues there.”

Kohli on Pujara

Another name that was mentioned in the post-match session was Cheteshwar Pujara. Kohli chose to look at the better times when Pujara was incredible for the team. He spoke about the 2018-19 tour of Australia where Pujara was consistently brilliant. “It’s not like that at all,” Kohli said. “If you take the Australia series, Pujara made the biggest contribution there. It was the first time we won a series there. If you take things in isolation, you will find lots of things to use as excuses, that this didn’t happen or something didn’t happen because of that.”

Kohli further continued to remind all about how a team works on the field more than an individual. “When you play collectively, your aim is to put 300-350 on the board. Whether five people score 50-60 each or one person makes 150, like Pujara did in Australia, our aim to have a big score on the board. If that doesn’t happen collectively, you must think about that rather than thinking what individuals have done. No one thinks like that. You play as a team and you want to do well as a team.”

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Virat Kohli even after facing a terrible loss in New Zealand in the Test series has supportive words for his batsmen. Kohli went on to back Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara as he termed it as a collective failure. Indian batsmen failed to set a good score in the first innings. The bowlers did well enough to restrict the hosts for a minimal score. In the second innings, the Indian batting unit was even worse and eventually lost the Churchgate Test in a 2-0 whitewash by the Kiwis.

Virat Kohli defends Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara

Kohli on Rahane

Virat Kohli did talk about the batting failure of the team but was not keen to point fingers at individuals. He spoke about Ajinkya Rahane who failed to deliver which does not necessarily make Rahane a bad player to the captain. Kohli explained, “Jinks (Rahane) is one of those players who has been very solid for us in Test cricket. I don't look at averages and numbers and those things too much. It is about impact performances. Has he been able to make enough impact performances for the team? The answer for me is yes. Whenever we have required an important performance from him, more often than not he has delivered.” The skipper further added, "Also have to figure out how many guys in your team do average more than 42-43-44, so if you have a solid middle order, you need to make sure those guys are playing together enough. Few games here and there, if you don't execute those things properly, it doesn't mean you become bad players. So Jinks for us, we are not even thinking about those kind of things. He has been solid for us. He has put his hand upon many occasions when the team has been in trouble so there are no issues there."

Kohli on Pujara

Another name that was mentioned in the post-match session was Cheteshwar Pujara. Kohli chose to look at the better times when Pujara was incredible for the team. He spoke about the 2018-19 tour of Australia where Pujara was consistently brilliant. "It's not like that at all," Kohli said. "If you take the Australia series, Pujara made the biggest contribution there. It was the first time we won a series there. If you take things in isolation, you will find lots of things to use as excuses, that this didn't happen or something didn't happen because of that.” Kohli further continued to remind all about how a team works on the field more than an individual. "When you play collectively, your aim is to put 300-350 on the board. Whether five people score 50-60 each or one person makes 150, like Pujara did in Australia, our aim to have a big score on the board. If that doesn't happen collectively, you must think about that rather than thinking what individuals have done. No one thinks like that. You play as a team and you want to do well as a team.” Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricadium on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
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