Rohit said Rahul’s return as a middle-order batter and wicketkeeper was a positive, but there was not much else to take away from this game. “Obviously, when you play a game like that, there’s not a lot of positives, but the way KL batted in the first innings, it showed a lot of us what you need to do on that kind of pitch. And then, bowlers, obviously a lot of these guys haven’t been here before. They’re still learning, so I don’t want to be too critical of them as well.
“You know, it’s just a loss. We’ll regroup, we’ll fight back hard.”
Ahead of the series, India’s Test specialists played a three-day intra-squad match and didn’t have much else by way of preparation, but Rohit said the lack of a proper practice match did not make much of a difference. “Guys have come here before,” Rohit said of the batters. “We do understand what to expect from the conditions. And then obviously every individual has their own plan of [how to go] about [things] and how they want to go and get the job done.
“Again our batters were challenged at different times of the game. We didn’t adapt well. We saw this [is a] very boundary-scoring ground. A lot of runs were scored playing shots, but again, you’ve got to understand the opposition, their strength, what kind of lengths they hit and things like that, and bring everything into your game plan. And clearly, I mean, we didn’t bat well on both the occasions, which is why we stand here with this loss.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo