Worst batting show: Kohli

'Defeat is a reality check'

Virat Kohli held back no punches after India crashed to their first defeat in 20 Tests. He was clearly unhappy with his batsmen’s performance and described it as their “worst batting show” in recent times and conceding 155-run lead as “criminal”.

He was also not pleased with the effort on the field and said “if you drop five chances of one batsman (Steve Smith, who was actually let off four times) then you don’t deserve to win and termed the defeat as a “reality check”. Excerpts from his press conference.

On whether Aussie spinners did better than Indian spinners: I think our spinners bowled really well as well. I wouldn’t say what they did better. As I said, if you don’t apply yourself, any bowling attack can look dangerous. And I certainly would like to think that that was the case with our batting line-up in this game. It rarely happens that four-five batsmen make errors in judgement in both innings, especially with the way we batted in the last few months. I would say this was our worst batting performance.

On whether an extra batsman could have been added: I don't think so. We wanted to pick up 20 wickets and we did manage to do that. I mean, not in time. I would say we did make breakthroughs but we could've done it quicker and if you don't grab your chances, if you drop five chances of one batsman then you certainly don't deserve to win. If you get bowled out within 11 runs and lose seven wickets, you don't deserve to win a Test match.

On whether Indian spinners did as bad as their batsmen: Not really. I think the way we batted in the first innings we put ourselves under a lot of pressure. Conceding a 160-run lead (155-run lead) on that kind of wicket is criminal actually. If we were close enough to their first innings total, the bowlers’ mindset would have been different in the second innings. The moment you give away 50-60 runs (on the lead), the game is drifting away already. And, I would say our batsmen put us in that position where it was very difficult for us to come back into the game. I am not blaming the bowlers at all.

On the mood in the dressing room: It’s fine. It’s just another international game, it’s no big deal. It’s how you should stay calm and composed when you win, you shouldn’t get overexcited. The same way you react when you lose, something that you take on the chin. And the last time we had a performance like this (in Galle), we had the most outstanding run after that. I would say that we needed something like this for us to get a reality check and understand what are the things that we need to work on.