Batsmen let India down against South Africa – Kohli
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli

SKIPPER Virat Kohli insisted India’s batsmen must take the blame for a Test series loss to a South Africa side that he admitted were better in every department.
Debutant Lungi Ngidi tore into the tourists on the final day of the second Test, the paceman taking 6-39 as the top-ranked side were bowled out for only 151 to suffer a 135-run defeat at Centurion.

Victory for the Proteas gave them a 2-0 lead with only one match to play, leaving India still without a Test series success on South African soil.
It is the first time in three years that India have lost a series in the longest format and captain Kohli, a centurion in the first innings, was left to rue the inability of a star-studded batting line-up to deliver.

“When we went in I told the guys it looks very different to what we saw before the toss. I felt we gained momentum from the way South Africa lost wickets in the first innings and we should have capitalised: we were in a position to get a lead if we could have had a good partnership,” said the skipper.

“That is something we have let ourselves down with from the first game and also in the second. It is the batsmen that have let us down again.
“We tried our best, it was just not good enough and South Africa were better than we (were) in every department, especially fielding.”
The prolific Kohli took no consolation from his magnificent 153, which left his side trailing by only 28 after the first innings.

“The 150 means nothing, we’ve lost the game and the series,” he added. “If the 150 had won the game for my team that would have mattered, but having not won the game personal milestones do not matter to me at all.”

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