Indian captain Virat Kohli lauded the team’s achievement after they scripted a 31-run win over Australia in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval on Monday.
Needing six wickets on the final day, the Indian bowlers put up a brilliant performance with the ball to bowl out the hosts for 291 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series.
“Super proud (of the bowlers), to have four bowlers and take 20 wickets is a great achievement. Something that we haven’t done in the past,” said Kohli at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Collectively we were the better team and deserved to win,” he added.
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For India, there were many performers with the ball in both the innings but it was Cheteshwar Pujara, who stood tall and it was largely due to his 123-run knock that India reached the 250-run mark in the first innings–something that looked improbable at one point of time.
Rightfully, he was named player of the match and Kohli showered praise on the right-hander for his superlative batting display.
“Cheteshwar Pujara was the difference between India and Australia. Priceless from Pujara, we were down and out at lunch on day 1. His grit and determination brought us back in it. We always knew that runs on the board would make the home side tentative. Any lead was gold and we got 15. In the second innings again, he and Rahane batted well,” he said.
India made sure they didn’t repeat their mistakes from the first innings with the bat and put up a much-improved show in the second innings as they built partnerships and batted with more responsibility.
“We focused only on partnerships in the second innings and the openers performed well. Shows us that if the batsmen step up regularly, we will be gunning for a win in every Test match,” he said.
Still, the Australian lower order showed resilience as they built small partnerships between themselves to get closer to the Indian total.
On the close finish, Kohli said, ” “These things happen in Tests, ups and downs through a game. You need to just stay calm. Odds were stacked against them. They fought really well but we executed our plans well and got that last wicket which we were intending to get.”
“We could have added another 30-35 runs which could have taken the game totally beyond Australia’s reach.”
India thus would walk into Perth– the venue for the second Test which starts on December 14–with a 1-0 lead in the series and would hope for the players to repeat their performance from this match.