Virat Kohli wants the Indian top-order batsmen to look at themselves in the mirror

After four days of jaw-dropping cricket, India lost the opening Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham by 31 runs. Virat Kohli, the home team’s skipper, scored 149 runs followed by 51 runs in the second innings. However, despite the superlative show by the 29-year-old, India were unable to turn over the home team. While England won in their 1000th Test, India lost their sixth match at the venue.

The bowlers did well for India, especially Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma, but the batting unit couldn’t deliver apart from Virat. Hardik Pandya’s knock of 31 runs was the second highest score for India in the match. The top order comprising of Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul faltered in both the innings. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli sounded critical about the top order.

There’s no hiding from this game

In the first innings, when India, at one stage, were reeling with eight wickets down and with 100 runs ahead of them to overhaul England’s first innings score, Umesh Yadav and Ishant looked determined and turned out to be an appropriate foil for Virat at the other end. Kohli also put forth the importance of playing fearlessly and learning from the mistakes. Moreover, he hailed the lower order batters for their approach while batting.

“Application. There’s a lot to learn from the lower order as well. First innings, Ishant and Umesh got stuck in there, again Ishant showed character here, Umesh got stuck in with Hardik, so those kinds of things make you feel that as top-order batsmen, we need to apply ourselves better also,” Kohli was quoted as saying in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Just look at ourselves in the mirror. There’s no hiding from this game. Whenever you step onto the field, whatever you feel will come out in no time. We just have to be positive, fearless, enjoy our cricket, take the negatives out of our cricket and look at the positives and build on those,” the Delhi-born cricketer added.

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