Kohli defends four-pacers move, rejects criticism around not playing spinner

Captain Virat Kohli Tuesday firmly backed his decision to play four pacers in the second Test against Australia, rejecting criticism that India erred in not playing a spinner.

Team selection has been at the heart of issue for the past five days, with Kohli's decision to play four pacers backfiring spectacularly, leading to a 146-run defeat.

"We didn't have that control particularly in the first innings, not to the extent that we wanted. But in the second innings for sure, especially yesterday (day four) the first session, giving away only 56 odd runs without getting a wicket.

"I think it was outstanding bowling and obviously Mohammed Shami did what he did in the next session with the ball, which was again wonderful to see. I think they executed their plans to 95 per cent of what we expected. I think you definitely can be happy with that.

The India skipper added, "In the past when we have played four quicks, we definitely haven't been as consistent as we were in this game. So, I think they were pretty accurate, pretty consistent and we were convinced about going in with four fast bowlers looking at the conditions."
When asked why Umesh Yadav was picked ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar despite ample grass on the pitch, he replied, "Bhuvi hasn't played a lot of four-day cricket recently and Umesh took ten wickets in his last Test (against West Indies) and was in good bowling rhythm. So that was the reason behind picking Umesh over Bhuvi."
"We didn't want to think that we definitely wanted to consider a spinning option on this pitch, especially having a look at the pitch on day one and how we thought it would play on the first three days, and exactly played out that way. We thought a fast bowler is going to be more productive and more helpful for us as a team."