Virat Kohli reflects on India’s loss in the first test match against South Africa

It was a disappointing day for India, as their batting line up folded up for just 135, South Africa won the first test match by 72 runs in Cape Town.

The day began wonderfully for India, as Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah and Shami bowled beautifully to knock over the South African batsmen.

But India could not do any better with the bat, as the likes of Dhawan, Viajy, Kohli and Rohit departed the scene without troubling the scoreboard much.

At the post match press conference, Kohli said that they had to rectify some mistakes, if they wished to get back into the series.

“If we had taken our chances in the first innings, even after them counter-attacking, we could have kept them to 220 which would have been ideal. We’re not a team which thinks of what-ifs though. Losing wickets in bunches is something we have to plug in. ”

“We were pretty much in the Test match on all days. We were thinking 250-275 (the target) if they play well. To restrict them to 210 was an outstanding effort. We needed someone to get a 75-80. Credit to them, they were a bowler short and still bowled their heart out.”

“We need to rectify our mistakes also. Mini collapses in both innings is something we have to think about, how to string in partnerships. This game is all about stringing in partnerships. They did that better than us.”

“Bowlers learned pretty quickly from the first innings, whatever mistakes needed to be corrected. We kept pulling things back against a side which is very strong at home. Still feeling good about how we went about this Test match. ”

“The mindset matters when you’re traveling away from home on pitches which challenge you. Need to be positive in defence and when you’re leaving also. You need to grab scoring opportunities. He’s (Hardik Pandya) a strong character. ”

“He backs himself and we believe in him. He’s performing for us now, even away from home. That knock was brilliant, showed a lot of character. “