“We take nothing away from this game.”
Virat Kohli’s damning assessment of the crushing 333-run defeat in the first Test against Australia was bang on. Even in a defeat, you look for a positive – something to build on, something that will give you hope for the future. But from the Pune Test, there was nothing.
The rest of the series will now depend on how well India recover from this mess – not physically, that is the least of their worries, but mentally.
In the lead-up to the first Test, while discussing the series during a sports literary event in Pune, former India opener Virender Sehwag had spoken about why a loss may be in the offing.
Law of averages
“This team has been playing fantastic cricket,” he had said. “They have won eight of their last nine Tests and that is a great achievement. But the law of averages catches up with every team and in my reading, there will be a Test in this series where the bowling might not fire or the batsmen will slip up.”
Indeed, no one expected the winning run to continue forever. But to be utterly demolished by the opposition inside three days is something that this young team will find tough to live down.
There isn’t much to be said about the second innings – it was probably worse than the first innings. Mentally, the team knew the Test was lost. It was also the fourth innings and the Aussies had put up a lot of runs on board. Still, the defeat hurts. It hurt Kohli for sure and it showed.
“If you don’t apply yourself, any bowling attack, even part-timers can look dangerous – and I’d like to think that is what happened here,” said Kohli in the post-match presser.
“If you drop five catches off one batsman and lose seven wickets for 11 runs, you don’t deserve to win a Test,” he further added. “We got outplayed. We have to take it on the chin and move on.”
The Indian skipper was in control – he wasn’t making excuses, he was calling it as he saw it. A good sign, especially given how the team seemed to fall apart in Pune.
In a calm tone, Kohli also added, “I can assure you we are going to come back with more intent in the next Test and put Australia under pressure from the first ball.”
He was already looking ahead, keen to get rid of this horrible memory as soon as possible. And that is the right attitude to take as well, but it won’t be as easy for the rest of the team.
Kohli’s success over the last few years has given him an unparalleled mental strength. He refuses to back down from a challenge and he will need to pull up the rest of the team with him too.
But things are rarely that easy. India’s problems will be compounded by the fact that this is a young team. An older head would have experienced this before, he would have tried to put things in perspective, but sometimes a younger player might become too aggressive in an effort to show the world that he isn’t done. And in that aggression might lay the window of opportunity for Australia.
But this is precisely where Anil Kumble and Sanjay Bangar will need to step up. They will need to help this team calm down. If they are too wound up, mistakes will happen and then sledging will come into the picture too. In a way, it helps that the next venue is Bangalore – home to Kumble and IPL home to Kohli. This is a venue that will hold few mysteries for the duo and the knowledge could be crucial.
Many of us were tempted to dismiss the collapse in the first innings as a one-off and perhaps it was, but to get rid of the mental scars after the meltdown in the second innings will take some doing. One pep talk before a match, one inspirational speech, isn’t going to give you the winning mentality. It is your experiences on the field that contribute to it.
But then again, such moments can prove to be the making of great teams. It can bring them together, it can help them focus on the right things, and it can be a new beginning. Call me a dreamer, but Kohli and Co will hope that they can use the defeat to do exactly that.