Indian skipper Virat Kohli hardly minced words in criticising his team's shoddy performance in the 333-run loss to Australia, saying it was easily the side’s worst batting display in the last two years.
India on Saturday slumped to a humiliating loss inside three days in the first match against Australia here to trail the four-Test series 0-1.
The Indian captain also agreed that the visitors exploited the conditions better.
The 28-year-old expressed confidence that his team will bounce back strongly. “I am sure we are going to bounce back strongly. It has been a good run for us (19-match unbeaten streak before this game). Good to see the crowd is still supporting us,” said Kohli.
Australia captain Steven Smith was all praise for man-of-the-match Steve O'Keefe, terming his match-haul of 12 for 70 an "incredible" performance.
Smith said that winning the toss proved to be an advantage on a track like this. “We had good plans in place. It's been 4502 days since Australia won a Test in India – I know it to the day. A massive lead in this wicket helped.”
On how he would rate his second innings century, Smith said:
Steve O'Keefe gave a lot of credit for his performance to Smith and his team's fielding.
"It is good to go 1-0 up, but there is a lot of work to do in the rest of the series. I am enjoying my experience (on the spinning pitches). I am looking forward to the second Test in Bangalore," he added.
His spin partner Nathan Lyon said they tried to replicate what India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been doing.
"Our plan was to compete hard, we did. We saw a lot of Ashwin, and we tried to replicate what he does in these conditions. Great, I'll take this pitch everywhere." Australia coach Darren Lehmann said his players learnt lessons from the preceding tour of Sri Lanka.
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