Kohli all praise for Umesh

When you decide to go in with a two-pronged pace attack, it is a big jolt when one of them retires injured as early as the fourth over of the match. Indian captain Virat Kohli was in such a precarious situation. With Shardul Thakur out of the attack, he looked to Umesh Yadav. He delivered.

Umesh made sure India didn’t feel Thakur's absence, and after the end of his brilliant show of 10-wicket haul for the match, his skipper was a pleased man.

“I thought with Shardul breaking down, to bowl like that in both the innings was a great effort from Umesh. It showed the kind of fitness levels he had, to keep running and hitting the 140 kmph mark. And more importantly, he picked wickets. It was not just about completing overs. It is a standout performance from Umesh and I hope he builds on from here,” Kohli said at the post-match press conference here.

Kohli’s biggest focus in the series was the top order, which had failed to fire in recent times. India tried the young Prithvi Shaw in the opening slot and he responded brilliantly with scores of 134 and 70. “That guy (Shaw) grabbed his chance beautifully. He looks like someone who can get you the start that you require. Making a mark in the first series you play is special. He is not reckless. You might feel he will nick one but he hardly nicks the ball. Even when we first saw him in the 'nets', he was in great control. I don’t think most of us were even 10 percent of what he is when we were 19 or 20,” Kohli offered.

India still find their other opener, K L Rahul, struggling for runs. Kohli felt the Karnataka batsman will soon learn from his mistakes. “I am sure KL will look at his errors and rectify them. There is no doubt about his attitude and how he goes about his game. He is very positive in his head and he is someone who also appreciates people telling him his fault which is a good quality to have. It was good he spent some time at the crease today and came out not out and he looked more composed at the crease than the first two innings in this series. I am sure he would like to build on from this. We have a couple of first-class games before the start of the Australia series and I am sure he will be eager to get big scores in them,” he said.

DH News Service