New Zealand vs India: Kohli backs Pant after series defeat
Indian captain Virat Kohli came to the rescue of Rishabh Pant after the visitors were handed a series defeat by hosts New Zealand. Kohli reiterated in the post-match conference that Pant has been working hard behind the scenes of late. Critics believe that Pant, who was preferred over Wriddhiman Saha against New Zealand didn't quite justify his selection. Here is what Kohli said.
We failed as a collective unit: Kohli
"Rishabh has worked very hard behind the scenes, so we thought of giving him a chance in this series. We thought he will come good in this series, but as a collective unit, we did not show a good batting performance," Kohli told reporters.
Pant has been devoid of runs of late
Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant looks completely jeopardized at the moment. He has not been at his best since the Australia ODI series wherein the management backed KL Rahul. The southpaw was beaten all ends up in the recently concluded Test series, having scored only 60 runs from 4 innings. Since August 2019, Pant has scored 118 runs in 7 Test innings.
Only three fifty plus scores for Pant since January 2019
Pant has scored a total number of 863 runs in 36 innings across formats at 27.83 since January 2019. This tally also included a Test century in Australia (159* off 189). Barring that knock, he only has one fifty each in ODIs and T20Is.
New Zealand sealed a 2-0 series victory over India
New Zealand thrashed India by 7 wickets in the second Test in Christchurch to clinch the Test series 2-0. The number one Test side was outplayed by the hosts in all departments in the match. Besides, it has been a remarkable turnaround for the Kiwis since they were cleaned up 0-5 by India in the T20I series.
Not right to single out players: Kohli
India's seasoned campaigners Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were unable to break the deadlock in the series. However, Kohli believes it won't be right to blame players individually. "Rahane has been solid for us. It is about impact performances and he has played some crucial knocks," Kohli said. He added, "In the Australia series, Pujara was the standout player. You cannot single out anyone."
