'We are going to chase it down' - Karn Sharma recalls how Virat Kohli changed the team's mindset in Tests

Karn Sharma has been a part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru camp and the spinner has shared the dressing room with the former captain Virat Kohli. Though the former RCB skipper is not leading the team at present, Karn made his Test debut under Kohli’s captaincy during India’s tour of Australia in 2014-15. The 36-year-old played his only Test and he shared a memorable Kohli story from the first Test of the series in Adelaide.

The inaugural game of the series was also the first game as captain of star India batter. Australia declared their second innings at 290 and had 98 overs to contain a strong Indian batting lineup. After losing early wickets India were in a strong position, thanks to Kohli and Murali Vijay’s partnership. Karn, who was part of the dressing room, revealed the former India captain’s urge to aim for a win rather than a draw and applauded his approach.

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"We were chasing over 300 runs in that match and Virat said 'no draw. We are going to chase it down. That injected a lot of positivity among players in the dressing room. It was a different approach. Different captains have different approaches. But his words sent a wonderful indication to the players in the dressing room, that your captain has different plans,” said Karn speaking on Manjot Kalra’s YouTube channel.

"He always gave the impression that everything is fine. Through his preparations, fitness, mental approach, Kohli never appeared too bothered or was fretting over the fact that he had a bad Test series," he added.

Kohli, Vijay’s partnership goes in vain

After India were down on 57 for 2, Kohli and Vijay put up a 185-run stand for the third wicket. The next four wickets fell in a span of 62 runs before Kohli departed scoring 141 runs. Vijay’s 99 too could not help India evade a 48-run loss after orchestrating a strong foundation for the chase.

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“Told the guys last night that whatever target it was we were going to chase it. I believed in my ability, Lyon bowled the ball in the right areas. If me and Vijay added about 40 runs there, the game would have been different,” Kohli said after the game.