Our worst batting performance: Virat

Indian skipper Virat Kohli weighed down the pitch criticism and put blame squarely on the batsmen for the humiliating 333-run loss against Australia here on Saturday.

“It wasn’t very different from other turners. That’s external perception and doesn’t matter to us. If batsmen don’t apply themselves even part timers will take wickets. We played bad cricket and will comeback stronger in the next game in Bengaluru and show more intent. The last time we had a bad performance was in Galle and we had an outstanding run after that. We needed that reality check,” he said here on Saturday.

Kohli admitted that first innings batting display made it difficult for them to make a comeback.

“It was our worst batting performance. Our batting in first innings put us under lot of pressure. Conceding 155 runs lead on this wicket was criminal. It was very difficult to pull things back after that. The mindset changes drastically in the second innings. Bowlers tried their best and someone like Umesh (Yadav) bowled his heart out on this wicket. We will take a few things from this game in bowling but batting let us down,” he admitted.

Coach Anil Kumble said on Friday that his team couldn’t adapt to pitch and Kohli added that there were some judgemental errors from the batsmen as they played for turn and missed straight ones.

“We had 4-5 judgemental errors. I left the ball and didn’t play for the line, it

Our batting in first innings put us under lot of pressure. Conceding 155 runs lead on this wicket was criminal

— VIRAT KOHLI

was my fault. We had no partnerships also,” he rued. “If you drop five catches of one batsman you don’t deserve to win. We have to focus on what we can do right,” he added.