Virat Kohli played a unbeaten innings of 49 runs to help India save the match in Rajkot. (Source: PTI) Virat Kohli played a unbeaten innings of 49 runs to help India save the match in Rajkot. (Source: PTI)

A lot of talks have been surrounding the return of KL Rahul for the second Test, but India captain Virat Kohli has said that there may be more surprises in the team that takes field on Thursday in the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam.

“We were clear that KL Rahul will be our first choice alongwith Murali Vijay. We were waiting for him to recover from the injury. In the meantime, Gautam Gambhir got his chances and he played very well. We want to play with the combination that has best balance. Pulling Rahul out of a first-class game withing the rules and we didn’t had to think differently,” the Indian captain said.

Talking about the pressure of playing to win a match and play to save a match, Kohli said that it depends more on the situation and the Rajkot Test was a good learning lesson for the team.

“It depends on the situation. When we are playing to save the match, the pressure is more. When we are chasing to win the match at least you can play your shots but it is not same when you are playing to save the match. You have to be selective and you need to concentrate a lot,” he said.

“People may look the last match that India struggled but as players we thought it was an opportunity to learn and improve our game which will be used more in the next 10-12 years and that will be important if we want to be a successful team,” he added.

Another aspect that Kohli talked about in the presser was the toss. Kohli, who lost his first toss in Tests after seven wins, said that winning the toss gives you a slight advantage but in Test cricket, it doesn’t matter much.

“Toss is something which is not under our control. We tried covering all our bases in the last Test. Winning the toss does give you an advantage initially but that doesn’t mean you are on the back-foot. In Test cricket it is less important as the team that can create pressure can always comeback. Toss has importance but it won’t decide the result of the match,” Kohli said.

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