Cricket News Today:  Virat Kohli snaps at reporter, Faf du Plessis named in South Africa's ODI squad for India series and more - 2nd March 2020

#4 Kohli backs Pant, Rahane and Pujara after loss

Pant, Rahane and Pujara have the backing of Kohli

Indian captain Virat Kohli backed his underperformers Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, and Cheteshwar Pujara after a convincing defeat at the hands of the Black Caps. Speaking to the reporters, Kohli explained that all three were impactful players who had the potential to change the game single-handedly.

Kohli cited Pujara's heroic contribution in their historic Test series triumph in Australia and stated that it was a one-off poor outing for the entire middle-order and that they will bounce back in future tours.

Congratulations to New Zealand on winning the Test series. #NZvIND Details👉 https://t.co/VTLQt4iEFz pic.twitter.com/gNq2DGHxWm

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 2, 2020

“We have given a lot of chances to Rishabh, you need to figure out when is the right time to give someone a chance. I don’t see anyone taking their place for granted in this team, no one here has come in thinking that I am going to play every game.

“Rishabh has worked very hard behind the scenes, so we thought of giving him a chance in this series. We thought he will come good in this series, but as a collective unit, we did not show a good batting performance.”

“Firstly, Rahane is one of those players who has been solid for us in Test cricket. It is about impact performances and he has played some crucial knocks. You also have to figure out as to how many guys average more than 40 in your team. Few games here and there if you don’t score runs, doesn’t mean you are a bad player. There are no issues there.”

“In the Australia series, Pujara was the standout player. You cannot single out anyone. We have an aim of scoring big runs, it can happen with everyone scoring 50 or 60 or with one guy scoring 150 as Pujara did in Australia. In our team, we work as a collective unit.”

Full article: New Zealand vs India 2020: Virat Kohli backs Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara after Christchurch loss