I was never worried about the game being abandoned: Kohli

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Press Trust of India Johannesburg
Last Updated : Jan 27 2018 | 11:50 PM IST
India skipper Virat Kohli said he was never worried about the third Test being abandoned despite the Wanderers pitch coming under sharp scrutiny on day 3 when play was halted due to sharp uneven bounce.
The Wanderers pitch remained a talking point throughout the match for the dangerous bounce it offered to pacers and forced early stumps after South African opener Dean Elgar took a nasty blow on his helmet on day 3.
After a lot of deliberation, the match officials had decided to continue the match.
"Whatever happened in the match referee's room, I'm not going to give out details of that conversation. (But) I wasn't concerned (about match being abandoned)," Kohli said.
"We played out two innings, we got hit at numerous occasions and we did not make anything of it. You know we carried on. We knew we were going to be hit but you need to show character."
Kohli said the decision lied with South Africa as his team was always ready to play.
"You cannot say that its tough or doing too much. We are playing in Johannesburg not in India, so we had to come out here, deal with what was given to us and we have dealt with it pretty well," he said.
"I wasn't concerned at all because the ball was in South Africa's court. They had to make a decision. Our decision was to play at all times and that didn't change through the course of four days," he added.
With India clinching the match by 63 runs, Kohli said the pitch, infact, played to India's advantage.
"We never complained about the tracks we played on. When we saw the pitch, we knew it's going to be an equal chance for both sides. We decided to take the challenge head on," he said.
"So it feels really, really satisfying to have won on a pitch that was supposed to have pace and bounce. And it did and it played to our advantage," he added.

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First Published: Jan 27 2018 | 11:50 PM IST

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