Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin and former India coach Madan Lal were critical of Virat Kohli’s outburst during the post-match press conference in Centurion. India lost the second Test at the SuperSport Park by 135 runs and conceded the 3-match series 2-0 to South Africa.

Kohli was asked questions on his team selections by journalists and he responded angrily after India lost the Test series to South Africa.

In Centurion, not only was Ajinkya Rahane not back, India even dropped Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took six wickets and played 127 balls in the first Test.

Rohit Sharma, who played in Rahane’s place in both Tests, failed miserably with the bat. Ishant Sharma, who replaced Bhuvneshwar for the second Test, bowled well to pick 5/86 in the match but India missed Bhuvi’s solidity with the bat.

Not surprisingly then, Kohli faced some tough questions in the post-match press conference. A reporter asked him why Kohli never fielded the same XI in 34 Tests in charge so far and the India captain lost his cool.

“What’s the best XI? You tell me and I will play that,” Kohli retorted. “The loss obviously hurts. How many matches have we won, tell me. 21 wins, 2 losses (in India since the end of 2015). I am asking everyone to be hard on themselves. I am not sitting here comforting my teammates.”

Kohli also asked the journalist if he could remember how many Tests South Africa had won in India: “Answering your question sir how many times did South Africa come close to winning games in India. Can you count?”

Kohli’s aggression with the media was unavoidable and possibly left a bad taste in the mouth.

“I am here to answer your questions, not to fight with you,” he said during a heated interaction with the media.

However, Azhar and Madan Lal speaking exclusively to Sports Tak, were clearly not impressed with Kohli’s attitude.

“A captain’s job is to defend his decision-making and I believe this was the reason why he was defending himself and got agitated during the press conference. But getting angry over a reporter’s question was not at all correct. It is a reporter’s right to ask questions. If you like a question you answer it, and if you don’t like it just don’t answer. Virat Kohli will have to understand how to handle the press when things are not going your way,” Azahar told Sports Tak.

Meanwhile, Madan Lal said, “Virat shouldn’t have lost his cool. This was nothing, more questions will be asked if India go on to lose the third Test. I feel, it wasn’t India’s best XI that played in the Centurion Test.”

Debutant pacer Lungi Ngidi grabbed six wickets to fire South Africa to a comfortable victory in the second Test to clinch the three-match series.

India were chasing 287 for a win to level the series but were bowled out for 151 in the extended first session thanks to Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada show shared 9 wickets.

Ngidi finished with 6/39 while Rabada pocketed three for 47 on a pitch which had variable bounce.

Ngidi single-handedly ran through the strong batting line-up of the Indians to help South Africa take an unbteatable 2-0 lead.

It took South Africa only a session to take the seven wickets they had to today. Parthiv Patel and Cheteshwar Pujara did show good intent to start off the day but a moment of madness from Pujara as he gifted his wicket to the South Africans by being run out.

The rest also threw their wickets away by playing poor shots. Rohit Sharma (47) did try to put up a fight but it was always an uphill task.

India are the top-ranked side in Test cricket according to the International Cricket Council rankings with South Africa second, though the Proteas will not be able to overhaul the sub-continent side even with a 3-0 series win.

The third Test starts at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on January 24.