If India wants to do well, Virat Kohli needs to score: Lance Klusener

The Cape Town Test posed India with one of the best chances to upset the Proteas and kickstart their campaign on a winning note. Cape Town suffered one of its worst droughts as the pitch conditions were slightly below par. The scarcity of water meant that the pitch wasn’t exactly tailor-made to favour the South African quicks. Still, it produced enough pace and bounce to trouble the Indian batsmen.

And it did, as the Indian batsmen fell like a pack of cards in both their outings in the first Test. Although the bowlers did a good job to keep the Indians in contention, the batting order completely failed to deliver. Skipper and marquee batsman Virat Kohli was no exception.

He could manage scores of 5 & 28. And his poor show with the willow has now seen him go down in the ICC Test rankings. The 29-year-old dropped 13 points to make way for Joe Root to take the second spot behind Steve Smith in the rankings chart. Pujara on the other hand, who had scored 30 runs in two innings, slipped two places down to the fifth spot.

India eventually lost the match by a margin of 72 runs. As the scoreline suggests, a little more pertinence and tenacity in the middle by the Indian batsmen would have seen the Men in Blue over the rope.

Lance Klusener opines Kohli needs to score if Indian have to win

Following the defeat, Kohli too lashed on his batsmen and said that they had to perform better than they did. Speaking on the same lines, former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener also echoed the Indian skipper’s view but added that it’s Kohli who has to score runs if India have to do well in the rest of the Test matches.

Speaking to Firstpost Klusener said, “If India wants to do well in the remaining two matches, (Virat) Kohli needs to score runs. He is the best batsman in the side and when he doesn’t score, a negative mindset is created in the team. Others may feel when the best player on the team is not good enough to score runs, then how can they survive in these conditions. So, I hope the captain will lead from the from the front in the next match and set up the series for an exciting finish. Let me tell you, he is well capable of doing that.”