India could not develop the same performance as Lord's, as it succumbed to an innings defeat in the third Test against England. Meanwhile, skipper Virat Kohli has revealed the reason for the same.
India suffered a nightmare in the third Test against England for the Pataudi Trophy. On Saturday, it was handed an innings and 76-run defeat at Headingley in Leeds on Day 4.
Consequently, the series is back on level terms, while India'sheroics in the second Test at Lord's seems to have gone futile. As fans and experts wonder what went wrong with the visitor and suffered this unfortunate fate, skipper Virat Kohli has revealed that it was the scoreboard pressure.
"Basically, I will put it down to scoreboard pressure. We knew we are up against a massive lead after getting bowled out for 78. The pressure from English bowlers was too much. They bowled at areas which troubled us," Kohli said during the post-match presentation.
"Batting collapses can happen. The pitch was good. Pressure from their bowlers was relentless. Their discipline forced us to make mistakes. It was quality bowling for long periods. It wasn't easy to deal with spells where we weren't getting runs. We didn't make good decisions as a batting side," he added.
Despite the horrific batting collapse on the opening day, India managed to get back on track on Day 3. However, it lost its final seven wickets for just 41 runs in a mere 54 minutes, triggering a collapse again, especially from the middle-order.
"You could say that we don't have enough batting depth, but the top order has to give enough runs to the lower middle-order to step up. The lower-order can't bail the team out all the time. In terms of positives, we don't have much other than the batting in the second innings to take from this game. Other than batting in the second innings, we don't have many positives," he concluded.
NOTE: Asianet News humbly requests everyone to wear masks, sanitise, maintain social distancing and get vaccinated as soon as eligible. Together we can and will break the chain #ANCares #IndiaFightsCorona