ENG vs IND 2018: Virat Kohli Opens Up On India's Batting Failure In First Test

India skipper Virat Kohli cautioned against jumping into conclusions over the batting failures after the team’s narrow defeat in the first England vs India Test.

Indian batsmen’s perennial problems in overseas conditions was again on the show in Edgbaston. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay who had scored centuries in their last Test outing at home not very long ago, along with their teammates looked out of sorts against the moving balls. As a result, India ended up losing the game by 31 runs.

The Indian bowlers did a brilliant job in both the innings. In the first, they had bowled out the hosts for just 287. However, the batsmen failed to capitalise on it. Dhawan and Vijay gave the team a good start by adding 50 runs  but India soon found themselves 5 down for 100. At one stage, it looked like the visitors would concede a lead of over 100 runs.

However, Kohli played a splendid knock of 149 to help his side recover and post 274. In the second innings, the bowlers bowled out England for just 180 which meant India had to chase down 194. However, barring Kohli the other batsmen failed again. As a result, India were all out for just 162.

The latest failure has only extended Indian batsmen’s poor show in overseas conditions in the last few years. But speaking ahead of the second Test, Kohli warned against judging the team on the basis of just one game in the series so far.

“We should not judge so fast, jump into conclusions,” he said. “As a team, we keep patience. We don’t judge so fast. We don’t see any pattern to (the failures). As far as wickets falling in a heap is concerned, it’s not about technique, it is more of a mental aspect.

“It depends on how you think about it after the dismissal. There must be a clear plan on how to face the first 20-30 balls; more often than not that plan does not involve aggression. There we need some composure. As a batting unit we have discussed that.

“From outside it looks very bad, especially it is Test cricket and we are playing in England, where it is anyway difficult (due to seaming conditions). But we only need to bring down the margin of error. Beyond that we don’t need to worry too much,” he added.