Two Test matches, two outstanding bowling performances and two batting failures. India Captain Virat Kohli came down hard on his team and believed it was time to reflect on the series loss and make sure mistakes aren’t repeated in the future. He believed the team had created ample opportunities to seal a win, but on most occasions let the advantage slip away. “You can accept defeat but not the way we played, the way we let the advantage slip out of our hand, that is not acceptable from a team’s point of view,” Virat said. “We had so many soft dismissals in one match and that hurt a lot. Because you work so hard, you prepare for a match, you get into good situations, shift the game towards you, and then the momentum shifts because of these mistakes. That feels very bad as a team. “Individuals have to sit and reflect on these things themselves. They do it but we have repeated these mistakes in both matches. There have been many soft dismissals, which as a team are not acceptable.” Virat also believed that it was necessary to delve into minute details and ask each individual what they could have done better. He was of the view that this team has a lot more to offer than what it did over the course of these two Test matches. “We have not come here to play the way we did. That is something that we need to definitely speak about. We need to be hard on ourselves. We need to ask ourselves if we are giving 120% for the team every time we bowl a ball or play a ball or field a ball. That is something individuals need to reflect on themselves. As a team we are definitely going to lay out these things in the open. We will ask the guys to be honest about what they were feeling at particular stages in the game. Unless you speak about it and lay it out in front of everyone, there is very little chance of improving. The mistakes that we made have been really about not putting attention to detail at important stages of the game. It is something we definitely need to take into account and sit down and discuss as a team.” While Virat applauded the bowling effort, he did want the batsmen to buck up. India have had small bursts of partnerships but not game-changing ones. Virat acknowledged that fact. “Partnerships of 60s and 70s are not good enough to win Test matches. We've seen that in the past as well and we've identified that and you know you need guys to put their heads down when the partnerships has gone to 60 and 70 and try to make it into 100 or 150 to give the team the best chance of winning a Test match or being in a solid position.

“Similarly, when you are batting as well, you want to make big 100s and not get out so that the team can benefit from that. So, it's the same mindset that you take into partnerships as well. When we did well in Australia, we got 450 runs every first innings but our partnerships were massive. That is something we haven't repeated here. South Africa did that better than us. They did not have many partnerships, but whatever they had, one big partnership was always there and that was the key to them consolidating those situations and they deserved to win the series."