We have not played to our potential: Kohli

Virat Kohli picked up his third successive win as Test captain, and the first at home, after he led India to a 108-run win over South Africa in the opening match here on Saturday. The 27-year-old touched on the pitch, which has been the flavour of this series, Indian batsmen’s mistakes and their bowlers’ fine show. Excerpts:

Was it the fear of spin rather than sheer spin that caused downfall?

Yes. I think that was the case. I can comment on our batting. We made errors rather than fear of spin. We made shot-judgement errors. We know that it has been committed, it will be reflected upon and corrected next time we come out to play. We have not performed to our potential in this game, the bowlers have stepped up. Even if the ball is turning, how much the bowler needs to pitch the ball up to get the ball in the right areas is important. So they should get credit for that. Even the fast bowlers bowled with good pace and their spells were very important.

Do Indian batsmen lack technique in playing spin?

See, we have played spin relatively badly in the past. I think the problem has been that we have lost wickets too quickly. If we get a partnership, then we lose one and then we've lost two-three immediately… So that needs to improve. Apart from that everyone plays spin well. It's just a mindset thing. You can think of five different things while playing a stroke, thinking that the ball might go there or there as well. You need to think of only one thing. If you want to hit a ball somewhere, you need to think about only that. We have spoken about that – having clarity of mind, playing fearless cricket.

Is games getting over in three days good or bad for Test cricket?

If we lose in England no one asks if the track was good or not, it’s always that we played badly. As Hashim (Amla) said the batsmen didn’t apply themselves and I agree with him. Those who applied got runs as well. It wasn’t like teams were getting out for 50. So there is no need to unnecessarily hype up the wicket.

If home conditions offer spinning tracks then how do we prepare our fast bowlers for overseas tours?

For that we don’t need to alter our home conditions. We can prepare such wickets and hold camps, get those kinds of tracks in first-class cricket, but that can’t happen on a regular basis because when we talk of home conditions then in India we have certain kinds of pitches. The bounce and pace of SA and swing of England cannot be replicated here. Eventually it becomes a batting wicket which is not result-oriented. If you want to play and compete in Tests then the wickets should be result-oriented.