NEW DELHI – After his team was beaten by 10 wickets in the first of twoTests against New Zealand, India captain Virat Kohli acknowledged that NewZealand were the superior side, but cautioned against pressing the panicbutton after just one defeat.
Monday’s loss was India’s first in the World Test Championship, where theyhad been unbeaten until now, with seven wins in as many matches, but inarguably their toughest challenge yet in the new cycle, Kohli’s men came upshort as New Zealand proved to be the better side on all days, in all threedepartments.
“For some people, it might be the end of the world, but it’s not. For us,it’s a game of cricket that we lost and we move on and keep our headshigh,” Kohli said.
“We understand that we need to play well to win, also at home. There’s nocakewalk at international level as teams will come and beat you. You acceptit and that defines our character as a side.”
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India opened their batting poorly, managing just 165 in the first innings,after being asked to bat under overcast conditions. From then on, they wereconstantly playing catch up, with their bowlers being unable to find thesame kind of swing as the home team bowlers did.
“This is a game where we did not show enough competitiveness,” Kohli said.“In the past, we have known that we have played good cricket even when wehave lost and we have been in the game.
“I think we let ourselves down massively in the first innings with the bat.”
