‘We came out with flying colours’

                                           

Credit to India, they batted really well and outplayed us in this series: Amla

After leading India to a 3-0 win in his backyard in his first home series as captain, Virat Kohli spoke about the team’s approach towards winning Tests and the future.

On erasing scars of earlier series losses

Credit to the team for showing character and bouncing back in the last two series!

It all began in Australia. We showed character even in defeats. That gave us a lot of belief as a Test team.

We took it to Sri Lanka. We had a few plans; rules that we needed in order to do well. We gave everyone responsibility.

On South Africa's skill of defending

To play like that is a difficult skill. I was surprised at their approach. I’m happy that bowlers were going through a phase where their patience and character would be tested.

We came out with flying colours.

On World No. 2 status

Rankings do not matter to me. Neither does it matter to the squad.

If we keep performing well, obviously rankings will go up...

It’s been three series I have been full-time captain. I have enjoyed it.

On whether critics got a fitting reply

We believe we can win against any opposition at any place in the world. Now how that will be presented is not in our control. We can only control our performance with bat and ball.

On whether South Africa’s approach was a poor advertisement for Test cricket

It’s a strategy from a team. The way we batted and bowled in second innings, people would have enjoyed as we came out of difficult occasions.

On the partnership between him and Rahane

Happy with the way Ajinkya and I played because at 57 for four if you lose another wicket the target will be around 300-315, which is a tricky total with two days to go.

We had a discussion that although we are up in the series, we need to enjoy and learn from this situation for future games.

If we bat through this situation and build a big partnership, that will give us confidence to do so in crunch games as well.

We kept communicating. I enjoy batting with him. We had some really good partnerships in the past. What I like about him is that his intent, backed by solid technique, is really good. It is a rare balance.

He has played some very important knocks for us in the last couple of years, because he is probably one of the most important people in our middle order.

On not enforcing the follow-on

When opposition is playing with four bowlers, why would you want to enforce the follow-on? When they’ve fielded for so long and then got out really quickly, you want them out in the field and make them work hard.

Amla’s take

Meanwhile, South African captain Hashim Amla tried to look at the positives.

He spoke about various aspects of South African cricket.

On whether team was hopeful of a draw

At lunch time, when we were three down, we definitely believed we could do it. We knew the last session was always going to be difficult. We tried our best.

AB de Villiers did an exceptional job in trying to hold it together for us but unfortunately we couldn’t get it to as deep as we would have wanted.

On whether South Africa would have gone for a lesser target

Absolutely.

480 is a pretty big, daunting target especially if you weigh it up with five sessions to bat. Having come close to that in the past, we felt that it was the best way to try and save the game.

On batting 300 balls for 20

Nobody wants to block everything. You want to score runs. That’s why you are a batsman.

But the need of the time was to try and bat as long as we can; to try and take the risky shots out of the equation. It is quite difficult to block full tosses and half-volleys. It is quite unnatural for batting.

But when it is done, you kind of appreciate the determination shown. AB was a prime example in this innings: to try and knuckle down for the team's sake, to be unselfish and do what is needed for the team.

On positives from this tour

Our bowling has been exceptional. For me, the shining light was seeing Morne (Morkel) lead in the absence of Dale Steyn and Vern(on Philander). From the times we have been to the sub-continent, he bowled some of the best spells I have seen. I’m happy with the way our bowling responded in these conditions, and that’s a positive going into the England series.

Having lost the series, we were trying to gain something from this game. We were never going to win this Test. The determination was never lost.

On whether he would have played previous Tests with same approach

Sure, then there would have to be a 15-day Test match if we had to do that. If you block, you may survive but you’re not going to score runs. The name of the game is to score runs.

Credit to India, they batted really well and outplayed us in this series. They certainly deserve the series victory.

In 2010 you didn’t get out. Here, nothing much went right

As captain, you always want to lead from the front. Not being able to score runs in the series certainly was disappointing for me. As a batting unit as a whole, we didn’t manage to get the runs on the board. 2010 was a wonderful year for me when I was here.