After enduring his first innings-defeat as captain, a hurt Virat Kohli admitted that India was outplayed by England at Lord’s.
“There’s no hiding from the fact that mistakes have been made,” he said. “We didn’t play good cricket in this game. We bowled well in the beginning but didn’t hit our areas consistently.
“We didn’t get enough chances in the field to miss any, but with bat and ball we could have done much better than we did. We’re certainly not thinking of anything else but making it 2-1 in the series and building on that strongly.”
Improve in next game
He added: “This is the first time in the last five Tests that we’ve been really outplayed. We’ve competed in every game before.
“A side like England, when they play like that, they can outplay any opposition, especially when they play at home and the ball is doing a bit. We’ll have to accept that, put it aside and improve in the next game.”
Kohli did not want to use the conditions as an excuse. “A lot of people are talking about the conditions, that we batted during a difficult time. On the day that was good for batting, we had to bowl. If we think about these things, we won’t be able to plan for the future. You can’t control the toss or how the weather will be on a particular day,” he said.
Kohli was asked if the team was a ‘one-man army’. “We definitely as a team don’t and can’t think from that point of view. No one’s doing anyone a favour by going out there and performing. It’s our job to do that and it’s a duty we’ve been given.
“We’ve been selected to play for the country. We need guys putting their hands up and saying ‘give me a tough situation, I’m going to pull the team out.’
“As I said before the game, it’s all in the head. It’s nothing to do with the game. You can play well in any condition if you are mentally ready for it. We should want the next Test match to come early rather than thinking we have five days till the next Test match comes.”
Meanwhile, Joe Root refuted the idea that India failed to put up a fight.
“I don’t see any lack of fight, or lack of trying. India are doing everything they can, but from my perspective, I’m so pleased we’re bowling as well as we are.
“That’s what’s been the difference, not necessarily India but how well we have performed, the areas we’ve put the ball in, the questions we have asked of them. When you build pressure for long periods it’s difficult as a batter to get through that sometimes. We’ve given them nothing,” he said.
‘Anderson is special’
Root hailed James Anderson’s contribution.
“He’s a special, special commodity, isn’t he. He’s something that doesn’t come along very often and we’ve got to enjoy him while he’s around, there’s been chat about his longevity but at the minute he’s bowling better than he ever has before. [He has] 100 wickets here at Lord’s now, time and again he puts in fantastic performances.”
He was not thinking of a 5-0 win yet, Root stated. “If you get too far ahead of yourself, this game has got a funny way of biting back at you. We haven’t played the perfect performance yet, and that’s something we’ve got to keep striving towards, regardless of what team India have at Trent Bridge.”
