Don't want to term New Zealand as 'bogey team': Virat Kohli

After losing the two-match Test series against New Zealand comprehensively, India skipper Virat Kohli on Monday said that he does not consider the Kiwis as a 'bogey team'.

In 2019, India was not able to defeat New Zealand in the semi-finals of the 50-over World Cup. Apart from the T20I series on this tour, India lost both the ODI and Test series.

"Disappointed as to how we played in the Test series. We were completely outplayed in this series, we did not play the brand of cricket we usually do. We need to address the issues straight up and not be in denial. We have a lot of cricket away from home this year, we would want to correct our mistakes. We were not brave in moments," Kohli told reporters after the second Test.

 

"I am sure no one was saying that in the first part of the tour. We got by the better team in the World Cup semi-final and now in the Test series. There is no shame in accepting defeat, they have just played much better cricket. We do not want to term the Kiwis as a 'bogey' team. Recognising what went wrong is important, one should not be in denial," he added.

Kohli also emphasised the need for having back-up options in the fast bowling department. The skipper said that one should not burden any individual with more workload.

"This is something we have been talking about, we have identified two or three guys. Saini has already come into the setup. We need to be very careful, we need to make sure that those standards are kept high. I think they bowled very well, in this Test especially," Kohli said.

"As far as execution is concerned, we were far better in this Test as compared to the first one. We do not need to recognise two-three guys who can keep up the standards, you cannot squeeze the life out of the individuals and then run out of back-up options," he added.

India's horrid batting performance resulted in the team's loss by seven wickets in the second Test of the two-match series against New Zealand on Monday here at the Hagley Oval.

With this win, New Zealand whitewashed India in the two-match Test series and has moved to the third spot in the World Test Championship standings with 180 points.

India is placed at the top spot with 360 points from nine matches.