Indian Test cricket skipper Virat Kohli on Monday said that England team’s lack of intent gave him enough “assurance” that they would crumble any time during their herculean chase of 405.
Opener Alastair Cook and teenager Haseeb Hameed blocked almost everything adding 75 runs in 50.2 overs but once they were dismissed, it became a walk in the park for the home team as the clinched the Test with a 246-run win.
“Not giving away at more than 1.5 per over, we thought they would come out with more intent to be honest. And to see the approach that they had obviously gave us assurance that once we get a couple of wickets, it will crumble pretty quickly because there wasn’t much intent from the batsmen,” Kohli made no bones about what he felt about visitor’s approach.
“It is a pretty basic thing to do, to be honest, and if you don’t have intent in the fourth innings, it is tough to play out four and a half sessions.”
While most of the other batsmen were busy defending, Kohli aggregated 248 runs from two innings with scores of 167 and 81.
Asked about his batting, Kohli said, “It is only if you have intent that you will be able to play the ball accordingly because you are looking to play it with the bat. If you don’t have intent, and you are looking to control the ball, and if it does something, then you are in no position to control it, the edges fly off.”
“If you are looking for runs, you defend well because your head is on the ball as well. So that was the idea, to get runs as the pitch gets tougher to bat on, show intent and keep getting runs in between, extend the lead so the opposition feels the heat of those 30-40 runs.” he added.
Kohli’s formula of getting runs consistently is just to go out there and live in the situation rather than thinking of runs as his ultimate goal.
“See what’s happening, understand the bowlers, not necessarily have your plans of attacking bowlers but to understand how the situation is playing out. Stay calm on the wicket, try to spend as much time on the wicket. Instinctive players obviously get runs when they spend time on the wicket,” Kohli said.
“I think I am one of them, so I like to go out there and play a session or two sessions that’s my target. I never think of runs. as a goal. Obviously, I want to score but I don’t think of these many runs in a session or something like that.
So spending time is something that I aim for in Test cricket,” he further added.
Kohli said their huge first innings lead of 200 runs gave them a cushion.
“We saw that in this match too as we had a total of 450—460. So the batsmen know they cannot afford to make mistakes. And if you make mistakes, 3—4 wickets can fall in one session, so we were able to get 200 runs lead because of that.”
“I think first innings is quite important, because afterwards it gets difficult. So at the start, if you can get 100-150 runs extra, then you get advantage of that in the second innings for sure.”
Bowlers are combining really well: Kohli
Kohli also lauded his bowlers, saying that they strike as a unit and none of them are hungry for any personal milestone.
“It has to be done in a partnership and I think they are combining really well — all the spinners and fast bowlers — at the moment. So it’s really good for the team. I hope they can continue to do their job.
“The good thing is that they are not getting desperate to pick up four and five wickets. They understand the need to come in and give us those breakthroughs and they are pretty happy to play the role,” he added.
Kohli also had special praise for Bengal pacer Mohammad Shami, who has returned after a knee surgery that kept him out mostly last year.
“Well he’s obviously very skilled. He’s a gifted bowler...we know that. He’s become fitter. The spell that him and Umesh (Yadav) bowled yesterday with the new ball, both bowling 145—plus, was great to see.
“To be honest, our bowlers got more off the pitch than their fast bowlers and that was something really pleasing to see as far as me being a captain is concerned. They bowled with pace,” he said.
“Shami has that extra skid that makes him dangerous with his reverse swing. He gets that extra zip off the pitch and he has good control over reverse swing, so that makes him dangerous in between when he comes for short spells because he can give those breakthroughs and the opposition also doesn’t really go after him that much,” Kohli pointed out.
“So he’s a great bowler to have in the side just to get those crucial breakthroughs for the spinners to capitalise again.”
