'We tried everything we could as a team' - Virat Kohli throws his weight behind Ajinkya Rahane after Kanpur draw against New Zealand

India’s Test and ODI skipper Virat Kohli has thrown his weight behind deputy Ajinkya Rahane, who led the team in his absence in Kanpur when India could not enforce a result despite coming agonisingly close to taking a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Kohli, however, giving credit where it was due, lauded the resilience of New Zealand, who had Ajaz Patel and Rachin Ravindra to thank for blocking out 52 deliveries during the last-wicket alliance to affect a draw and set up a decider in Mumbai.

“I watched the game and I think we tried everything we could as a team,” Kohli said in a virtual media interaction on the eve of the Mumbai Test.

“Obviously, everyone has a different way of approaching things. I probably would have been able to answer that if I was in that situation but I was not so I know that the team tried everything that they could and Jinx (Ajinkya Rahane) has always brought up great ideas to make sure that, you know, we put the opposition under pressure with strategy, with field placings and rotating the bowlers as well. A great example of that was in Australia as well when we played [there].

“Sometimes when you are not able to pull off a result you also have to give credit to the opposition for batting out 10-12 overs in the end with the last wicket. It was a very good effort from them.

So, we have to be realistic about the scenario, realistic about the situation. Obviously, you look to improve on things you still can and you find ways of winning and that’s been the essence of our team regardless of who’s been in charge. I think that has become the culture of this team and we’ll continue to look to find opportunities to put our team in a winning position whenever we can and sometimes it doesn’t happen and you have to accept that,” he added.

India, despite being in a commanding position after having set New Zealand a stiff 284 for the win, could only pick eight of the required nine wickets on the final day.