Kohli defends team combination after WTC final defeat

PTI, Jun 24, 2021, 7:57 AM IST

Skipper Virat Kohli defended India’s bowling combination for the World Test Championship final, saying going in with a four-pronged pace attack was possible only with a fast-bowling all-rounder. India fielded both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja along with pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami.

Kohli asserted that there was nothing wrong with India’s choice of bowlers as they needed to score more runs in order to let their spinners call shots.

India lost WTC final to New Zealand by eight wickets.

”You need to have a fast-bowling allrounder for that. We’ve been successful with this combination in different conditions. We thought this was our best combination, and we had batting depth as well, and if there was more game time, the spinners would have come into the game more as well,” Kohli said at the post match presentation ceremony.

”We lost only three wickets (on day one) but we could have got more runs if play had gone on without the interruptions. Today, the Kiwi bowlers executed their plans to perfection and pushed us back, and we were probably 30 or 40 runs short,” he added.

Kohli yet again gave a huge thumbs up to the newly-introduced World Test Championship and Test cricket in general, saying the longest format is indeed the heartbeat of international cricket.

”It’s great for the game, the more the Test format is given importance (is better) and the Test format is the heartbeat of the international format. We’re looking forward to the long summer ahead. We’ve got the squad and the quality to do something special.” Like a graceful leader, Kohli praised his worthy opponents in resolute Blackcaps. ”They showed great consistency and heart to pull out a result in just over three days, sticking to their processes to put us under pressure. They deserved the win. The first day got washed out, and when play resumed it was difficult to get any momentum,” he said.

Kiwi pacer Kyle Jamieson, who is Kohli’s teammate at the Royal Challengers Banaglore, got him out in both the innings and the India skipper said the tall fast bowler deserved to win Player-of-the-match award. ”Jamieson is a quality cricketer. He hits really good areas with the ball and he’s a gutsy batsman as well. He’s had a great game and thoroughly deserved to be Man of the Match,” he aid.