New Zealand vs India 2020, 1st Test: Virat Kohli Rues Losing Toss, Says Overall 'We Did Put In A Good Effort' After Heavy Defeat
Published - 24 Feb 2020, 08:04 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 06:46 AM
India’s winning run in the ICC Test Championship came to a halt on Monday as New Zealand thrashed them by ten wickets in the first Test. Before this loss, the Virat Kohli-led side had won all of their seven Tests in the Championship. Resuming their 2nd innings at 144/4, still 39 runs behind the hosts, India were all out for just 191, giving New Zealand a target of 9 runs which they duly completed in 10 balls.
India rarely looked in contention to win the game after the poor batting performance on the first day. The visitors were all out for just 165 and there was no way back for them. India’s bowlers failed to restrict the hosts to a modest total as they piled up 348 and took a big lead of 183 runs.
India’s batting failed to get going in the second innings too with Mayank Agarwal’s fifty being the only notable contribution. Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari started the proceedings on day four but could not guide India to a good total as the visitors lost all of their remaining six wickets within 80 minutes.
That's that from the Basin Reserve as New Zealand win the 1st Test by 10 wickets and register their 100th Test win.
Scorecard – https://t.co/Jo6w0HOybN #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/N9nxwVH0no
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 24, 2020
Speaking at the end of the game, captain Virat Kohli started by ruing the loss of toss and said that it turned out to be ‘very important’. At the same time, he did not shy away from admitting that the batsmen failed to be competitive in the game. Virat Kohli also rued India’s failure to get rid of New Zealand’s tail in the first innings which helped the hosts get the big lead. Virat Kohli also defended his team, saying that overall his teammates put in a good effort.
“Day 1, the toss did turn out to be very important. But at the same time, we take a lot of pride in being competitive as a batting unit and we were just not competitive enough. I don’t think we put their bowlers under enough pressure. Anything over 220-230 and we would have been talking a different language. Even the deficit looks lot lesser if you get that score and take those last three wickets cheaply,” said Virat Kohli.
“The first innings really put us behind in the game and the lead put us under pressure. As a bowling group, we have been pretty competitive in bowling good channels for long periods of time. Till about 7 wickets, we were pretty good. The wicket did get better. The last 3 wickets and those 120 runs hurt us and pushed us out of the game. Overall, we did put in a good effort but can still be more disciplined. It doesn’t need to be pointed to them as the bowlers have recognized themselves. That can happen at the international level. You don’t have to be too hard on the guys,” he added.
