There will be no repeat of what happened at Pune: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is a player who thrives under pressure. He has wronged his critics time and again and will look to do the same in Bangalore. It was the first time during Kohli’s reign that India had to face defeat at home. This defeat was so intense that Indian team had to take some time off to get it out of their systems.

It will be very interesting to see how Indians go in their approach. In the first Test, Kohli picked five bowlers and ignored the sixth batsman. This proved to be fatal as the game ended within three days. The Pune pitch was always in the talks even before the series began. It was predicted that the game won’t last for more than 4 days.

Talking about the team’s preparation for the upcoming Test that is crucial in the context of the series since they are already 1-0 down. “We assure you, we are not going to repeat Pune-like performance in the remaining series. We accept the fact that there was a lack of intent from our side in the previous match,” Virat said.

When asked about the imperfect team selection in the pre-match press meet the Indian skipper, rather counter-questioned the question. He said: “You wouldn’t have asked this question if we had won. The result changes the line of questioning.”

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Though he kept the cards of the combination they were going to go in with close to his chest Virat did reveal that allrounder Hardik Pandya has troubles with his shoulder and won’t be available for this Test.

“Hardik Pandya is not available for selection in the second Test, he has a niggle in his shoulder. But I won’t let it (combination) right now, but we too have two to three combinations that we are looking at and not one set pattern,” added Kohli.

The decision to play an extra spinner on a pitch that turned from ball one of the Test backfired brutally for Team India. Jayant Yadav leaked runs on a wicket that proved to be a dream for Steve O’Keefe in the opposition. Jayant gave away 103 runs in his 23 overs claiming just two victims to his name. He is considered a pretty stable hand with the bat, but that didn’t come to the fore in either inning.

The young skipper of the No.1 Test team also talked about getting the loss out of their system. He emphasized on the fact that the loss should not trigger your ego and ignore the mistakes. BCCI tweeted an excerpt from his conference with a video.

Watch it here: