Virat Kohli opens up after India's humiliating loss in the first Test against Australia

What’s the story?

The Australian cricket team dismantled India by 333 runs in the first Test of the four-match Test series which took place at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune earlier today. Speaking to the press after the defeat, captain Virat Kohli spoke about the reason for India’s loss and how it felt to have their 19 match unbeaten streak broken.

“It’s just another international game, it’s no big deal. It’s how you should stay calm and composed when you win and don’t get overexcited, it should be the same way when you lose. Its something we take on the chin. We take failures and losses as an opportunity to learn and the last time we had a performance like this in Galle, we had the most outstanding run,” said Kohli.

So, I would say we needed something like this for us to get a reality check and understand what are the things we need to work on and keep persisting with it and not take anything for granted at any stage, especially in test match cricket on the international level,” he continued.

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Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon spun their side to victory as they picked up all 10 wickets amongst themselves in the 2^nd innings of the match. Chasing a massive total of 441, India never got a foothold in the game as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals right from the very beginning of their innings. Cheteswar Pujara high scored with 31 as India were bowled out for 107. O’Keefe picked up six wickets while Lyon bagged four.

Earlier in the day, Steve Smith continued from where he left off yesterday and scored a magnificent century – 109 in 202 deliveries with 11 fours to his name. Mitchell Starc contributed with the bat once again as he scored a quick-fire 30. Australia were bowled out for 285, with Ravichandran Ashwin picking up four wickets and Ravindra Jadeja took three.

Extra Cover: Steve O'Keefe credits 'his biggest influence' Sriram for Pune spell

The heart of the matter

Kohli went on to speak about how India put themselves under pressure from day 1 and how their batting was the main reason for the loss in the Test. He felt that the batting was not upto standard and constant pressure by the Australian bowlers led to their downfall.

However, he felt that the only positive takeaway for India was their bowling performance, especially Umesh Yadav’s breathtaking spell in the first innings of the match. Kohli also assured the fans that India would bounce back in the 2^nd Test.

What’s next?

The 2^nd Test match of the Border-Gavaskar series will take place at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore from March 4-8. The final two Tests will take place at Ranchi, and Dharamsala respectively.

Sportskeeda’s take

The Indian cricket team have got a reality check and have been brought down to earth by a dominant Australian side after the heavy loss against them in the first Test earlier today. The pitch was made to assist the Indian spinners, but it was the Australians who took greater advantage of it, and fans could expect a completely different pitch in the 2^nd Test in Bangalore. With the Chinnaswamy stadium pitch known to produce a lot of runs, we might see India include a specialist batsman like Karun Nair instead of Jayant Yadav.