SA vs IND 2018: Looking Forward To Playing Our Best Cricket In Second Test, Says Virat Kohli

India batsmen might have been thoroughly outplayed in the first Test but skipper Virat Kohli is not at all surprised with the conditions in South Africa.

Kohli & Co. arrived in the African country on the back of nine consecutive series wins but failed to come up with an all-round performance against the Proteas. The visitors started the proceedings in Cape Town on a stunning note with Bhuvneshwar Kumar ripping through South Africa’s top-order to reduce them to 12 for three. However, they let South Africa off the hook from thereon, as the Proteas recovered from the disastrous start and posted 286.

In reply, India’s top-order failed to put up a good show on a tough pitch. The visitors were reeling at 92 for seven before Hardik Pandya’s 93-run knock helped them post 209.

India’s bowlers then gave their side a big chance of winning the game by dismissing South Africa for just 130. But the batsmen once again failed to compliment the bowlers as India were all out for a mere 135.

But despite the batting struggles in the first Test, Kohli said the conditions were not surprising and spoke on what an individual needs to do to thrive on bouncy tracks of South Africa.

“One must not get surprised by the bounce here. You have to maintain composure when you get the sudden change of bounce when you experience in South Africa. There are other pitches around the world which bounce a lot but here bounce is steep, and it can be quite steep from length also. I think those are things that you need to mentally tune yourself to get over, and adjust to, and accept that this is going to be a major part of batting in South Africa,” he said on the eve of the second game.

Kohli further expressed his delight over the nature of the pitch in Cape Town and said the team is looking forward to coming up with its best cricket in the second game.

“We actually wanted it to be that way so that both teams are into the contest, provided they play some good cricket. So, we’re pretty happy to see the wicket, how it behaved in Cape Town that gave us many opportunities to stay in the game and allow us to make comebacks whenever we were put under pressure. This pitch will again test us to play our best cricket and that is something that we’re looking forward to,” he said.

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Catch India’s tour to South Africa here.

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