PERTH: Indian captain Virat Kohli defended the decision to go for an all-pace attack after they slumped to a series-levelling defeat to Australia in the second Test in Perth on Tuesday.

The Indians were beaten by 146 runs as Australia made it 1-1 in the four-match series, with spinner Nathan Lyon playing a pivotal role with eight wickets.

India made the unusual decision to go with a pace quartet after spinner Ravi Ashwin was ruled out with an abdominal strain, recalling Umesh Yadav ahead of Ravindra Jadeja.

Indian paceman Mohammed Shami questioned the selection after the fourth day’s play and said that he believed a spinner would have been a better decision.

But Kohli backed Yadav’s recall at the all-new Perth Stadium, saying the fast bowlers did as well as he expected.

“We as a team didn’t think we definitely wanted to consider a spinner on this pitch, especially looking at the pitch on day one and how we thought it would play the first three days, which is how it did play,” he said.

“We thought the fast bowlers were going to be more productive for us as a team.

“They executed their plans to 95 per cent of what we expected and you can be happy with that.

“We were pretty convinced going in with four fast bowlers, looking at the conditions, and I think they did pretty well.”

Kohli said Yadav’s last Test saw him claim 10 wickets against the West Indies in October, while Jadeja had not played much red-ball cricket recently.

But the complicating factor for India was that recalling Yadav for the injured Ashwin also weakened their batting line-up.

“Obviously Ashwin or Jadeja have more ability with the bat,” Kohli said. “It is a very tricky decision to make, what bowling option do you go with or do you want that guy to contribute with the bat.

“We backed that decision and went with it, we were totally convinced it was our best combination and the batsmen have to take responsibility.”

SKIPPERS PLAY DOWN ‘BANTER’

Meanwhile, rival captains Tim Paine and Kohli played down their heated exchanges which prompted intervention from the umpire during the second Test.

Much attention centred on exchanges between Kohli and Paine on the third and fourth days, which were picked up by stump microphones and prompted umpire Chris Gaffaney to warn the pair to “play the game”.

But Kohli, one of the most animated players in world cricket, said there was nothing to worry about in what was said during the match.

“As long as there is no swearing the line doesn’t get crossed,” he said. “And no personal attacks.”

The Indian captain described the exchanges as competitive “banter”.

“Stump mics and cameras... these things are totally irrelevant,” he said. “It stays on the field.”

He added that the remarks in Perth were nothing compared to their Australian tour in 2014, when he claimed to have been called a “spoilt brat”.

Paine also said his sparring with Kohli did not get out of hand, adding that he admired his opposite number’s passion for Test cricket.

“It was a highly competitive Test match from both teams and there was a lot on the line, with both teams desperately wanting to win,” Paine said.

“It [Kohli’s behaviour] was not (worrying) to me, I love it and I’m sure it was great to watch.”

The BCCI, meanwhile, slammed “baseless” reports of a sledging showdown between Paine and Kohli.

The Indian team management strongly denied reports that Kohli had belittled Paine as just “a stand-in captain”.

Also on Tuesday, the BCCI slammed what it called “baseless” reports of a sledging showdown between Paine and Kohli.

The BCCI said: “It is ‘assumed’ that Kohli said, ‘I am the best player in the world and you are just a stand-in captain’. These claims were based on hearsay and the BCCI would like to bring into notice that no such words were spoken on the field by the Indian captain.”

It added: “The BCCI got a clarification from the team management about the incident and would like to classify the reports as baseless.”

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2018