JOIN USIndia may have lost an opportunity to build on their 1-0 lead after rain marred the second Test here, but skipper Virat Kohli insisted that the momentum was still with India.
After the first day’s play, when India replied with 80 for no loss to South Africa’s 214 all out, not a single ball could be bowled in the next four days as the match ended in a draw to leave the Indians disappointed here on Wednesday.
“The momentum… I don’t see any change in that, the mood is absolutely the same that we had in Mohali in the team,” said Kohli.
“We had a really positive day one, bowled the No 1 side in under three sessions, bowled them out on a decent batting wicket. There were no demons in the wicket, I can say for sure and we batted pretty well of whatever time we had in the middle. Shikhar (Dhawan) getting some runs was a big positive as well. All in all, we have been in a very good space and we have maintained that. Thinking about the weather can put you off which the team has not done, so I would like to give credit to the guys to still stay in the zone and react to the weather which is not in our control. Nothing has changed in the last four days at all,” he maintained.
While Kohli was happy for Dhawan to get amongst runs (he was unbeaten on 45 after collecting a pair in the first Test), he didn’t believe the opener was struggling for form.
“If you call scoring two hundreds in three Test matches struggling then I don’t know what ‘in-form’ is,” he began.
“His last three matches, he has got a hundred in Galle, he has got a hundred in Bangladesh, unfortunately he got injured after and he played first Test match after that in Mohali. So let’s not be too hard on someone because of two or three innings. This is international cricket, you are going to play numerous innings and we have to be patient with players like Shikhar because he is an impact player and we need to give him as much confidence as we can possibly. When he gets going he wins you the game, that is a surety,” he offered.