CHENNAI : With the chances of being the first Indian side ever to win a Test series in Australia looking bright, captain Virat Kohli has called on batsmen to take more responsibility. In the two away tours of South Africa and England this year — which the team-management had said would define their nature — batsmen squandered opportunities at crucial junctures as India suffered defeats despite bowlers keeping them in the game time and again.
Though the scoreline in South Africa was close, India were found wanting in England with batsmen failing to adapt to the local conditions. As the team embarks on a tour of Australia which includes three T20Is, four Tests and three ODIs, the visitors believe they have more than a strong chance of just competing given the hosts are without two of their best players — Steve Smith and David Warner — because of Cape Town saga.
India, throughout the five Tests against England, repeated the mistakes they had committed in South Africa, partially down to an unsettled opening combination and a middle-order that seldom contributed. With the pattern repeating, Kohli has called on the batsmen to show more responsibility. “Within the group we understand what to work on. So it is up to the individuals to take ownership, responsibility of things that are explained and laid out as expectations as team culture and team goal point of view.
There were a lot of things we sat down and discussed after England, about what went wrong. To be honest, we all felt there was not much that went wrong. Whatever was not right was very extreme also. We played good cricket, but the mistakes were also very extreme, that’s why we lost that many number of games rather than winning those moments and winning the games. Individuals need to take more responsibility, show more character such situations and assess it, and then find a solution rather than thinking that the solution will appear from somewhere. Those are the things we are really keen on, going now in our next venture and especially in Test cricket,” Kohli said in Mumbai before the team’s departure on Thursday.
With a bowling unit that is capable of taking 20 wickets on any track, India showed in Johannesburg and Southampton that if the batsmen applied themselves, they can win Tests overseas. But have fallen short with regards to consistency. “We need to get more consistent as a team, and for that each individual needs to sit down and remember what they did — whether we lost or whether we won.
Only then you can implement those things or you can stop yourself from making those same mistakes. The vision will be provided, but decision-making is a very individual thing which everyone needs to improve,” he added.
Apart from Kohli, the rest of the top-order batsmen have struggled to get out of the shell, which they have often fallen into, given how little time they have had to adapt to the local conditions.
Though the pitches in Australia will be more batting friendly, Kohli said batsmen need to forget it and come out fresh. “Any side that is playing in their conditions won’t let you dominate the game. So we have to understand firstly how to control that situation better.
It’s not so radical that we can’t get our heads ahead from that. Secondly, if that happens, we have to understand how to refresh and focus on the next match as a new game, rather than letting it build on or pile on. To implement that, the talent is there, we have no doubts on it, everyone will agree. There’s little things that we need to solidify, and make sure that when the situation is against us, we know how to block it or we know how to get over that quicker,” Kohli said. India will face Australia in the first T20I on November 21.
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