Need to apply ourselves better: Kohli
Birmingham, Aug 4 : India skipper Virat Kohli said the batsmen, who gave a poor account of themselves in both innings, need to apply themselves better after losing to England by 31 runs in the first Test here on Saturday.
Chasing 194 for victory in the second innings, India were skittled out for 162 with only Kohli managing 51. For England, medium pacer Ben Stokes was lethal, taking the important wickets of Kohli and Hardik Pandya (31) on the day.
In the first innings, replying to England's 287, India once again had Kohli to thank for his masterly 149 as they posted 274.
While none the other batsmen could manage more than 26 in the first essay, Pandya scored 31 which was the second higest in the second dig for the visitors.
"Our shot selection could have been better. We definitely need to apply ourselves better with the bat, but England came back superbly and we need to take the positives and move forward," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"We can be proud as a team to start against England in England the way we have. There is a lot to learn from the lower order in the first innings, Ishant (Sharma) and Umesh (Yadav) got stuck in the middle.
"Ishant showed character here, Umesh hung around with Hardik again. There is no hiding from this game; we need to be positive, relentless and whatever the feelings are would come out now in no time," Kohli said.
Kohli stitched together a 35-run stand with Ishant for the ninth wicket to follow it up with a 57-run partnership with Umesh for the last wicket. In the second innings, Ishant and Umesh again tried their best to give company to Pandya who was dismissed in the end.
"First of all, it was a great game of cricket for all those watching at home and here in the stadium. Glad to be a part of such an exciting Test match; there were a couple of moments when we came back," Kohli said appreciating the fascinating see-saw battle the first rubber was from the outset.
"A team like England doesn't let you do it everyday, they were relentless and they made us work very hard for our runs. It sets up the series nicely and gives us what we need to do going forward."
Asked about his magical 149 in the first innings where he single-handedly dragged India out of a hole, Kohli said it would have tasted sweeter had the side ended up on the winning side.
"From the team's point of view, my innings in the first innings is right up there, perhaps second after the knock in Adelaide; it is something I will fondly remember," he said.
"Had we won it would have been the best. It always feels good when you can pull your side close to the first innings totals the oppositions have.
"One more partnership and we could have pulled this home. We need to think how to regroup and get back for the next match. Test cricket is my favourite format, there is nothing better than testing yourselves over five days against top quality oppositions and people watching it too should love watching it."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Mamata continues sit-in for second successive day over Bengal voter roll deletions
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continued her protest against alleged arbitrary deletions in the post-SIR electoral rolls for the second consecutive day on Saturday, after she spent the night at the sit-in site here.
Banerjee had begun the demonstration at Metro Channel in central Kolkata on Friday, accusing the Election Commission of conspiring with the BJP to “disenfranchise Bengal voters” ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
The chief minister stayed overnight at the protest site, surrounded by senior Trinamool Congress leaders, legislators and party workers, turning the busy Esplanade stretch into a makeshift political camp.
ALSO READ: Headmaster in J'khand's Garhwa suspended for dancing with students on 'vulgar' song
Addressing supporters on Friday afternoon, Banerjee alleged that large numbers of genuine voters were being removed from the electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The CM also reiterated her claim that several voters had been "wrongly marked as dead” and said she would present such individuals before the media and the Election Commission to expose what she described as an "attempt to manipulate the voter list to help the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls".
Senior TMC leaders and state ministers remained present at the venue, while party supporters gathered at the protest site in the morning.
The protest comes just days before the full bench of the Election Commission is scheduled to visit West Bengal, amid rising political tensions over the voter list revision ahead of the assembly polls.
According to official data released on February 28, as many as 63.66 lakh names — around 8.3 per cent of the electorate — have been deleted since the SIR process began in November last year, reducing the voter base from about 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.
In addition, over 60.06 lakh electors have been placed under the “under adjudication” category, meaning their eligibility will be determined through legal scrutiny in the coming weeks, a process that could further reshape constituency-level electoral equations.
