ENG vs IND 2018: England Deserved To Win Because They Played Better Than Us: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, on Tuesday, refused to point out to any negative aspect for his side despite England thrashing the world number one team 4-1 in the five-match England vs India series. Instead, Kohli counted on the positives and was quick to point out his team’s competitiveness.

Barring the final Test at The Oval, India had the chance to win each other four games. However, they could win only one of those four games. But then again, one cannot deny the fact that India were playing a England side that was at its weakest in years. The hosts’ top-order was miserable while the middle-order did little to make up for it. The bowlers lacked the sharpness too sometimes. However, India just could not capitalise on those and came up with their own poor performances to concede the series.

Throughout the series, the batting was a concern while the bowlers’ failure to wrap up the tail cost India dear. India would be looking at the series as a great opportunity lost. However, their skipper Virat Kohli instead said the attitude the team played with gave him a lot of heart.

The 29-year also said that the defeat was not hard on him at all.

“Not hard at all because what matters to me is the kind of attitude you play cricket with,” he answered when asked if the loss was hard on him. “We said at the end of the fourth game that we won’t throw in the towel and we didn’t.

“A lot of teams in the past basically have given up but we did not do so… look we don’t think like people on the outside I have said before and again. And this kind of series shows you exactly the kind of character of individuals. I see that as an opportunity and not adversity because if you keep winning all the time a lot of faults are swept under the carpet, you don’t realise the faults you need to work on and I certainly haven’t played my cricket like that,” he added.

Well, one cannot disagree with Kohli here. His team has definitely competed well in the series and gave England a run for their money. The performances have really made it clear that the Virat Kohli-led side will not sit back and accept defeat no matter how tough the conditions are.

However, their failure to pounce upon key moments is definitely in question here.

Kohli, meanwhile, further spoke on how his team piled pressure on the hosts. At the same time, he admitted that India could not keep England under pressure for long which according to him was the reason behind the loss.

“We created pressure, we were not able to hold that pressure for long enough with the bat and the ball. At crucial stages, we could not keep that pressure on for long, and that is why they took advantage of those situations better than us. We understand why this series has gone the way it has. To be honest we don’t see a massive-massive portion that we need to correct, because if you are competing in every game, and you have an upper hand in every game at some stage or the other, you are doing something right,” he said.

Kohli, however, took nothing away from England and gave them the credit for the win.

“They deserved to win because they played better than us, that is how we look at this series, we do not look at this series as something that makes us think we can’t play in overseas conditions. Of course we can play, but can we capitalise on the important moments better than the opposition? At the moment, no, we haven’t done that, but in future, we want to do that, and that is the only way we win series.

“Our aim is to win series, not to win the odd Test match and be happy about it, we are definitely not happy about the way the series has gone, but the way we played cricket is something that, not me, no one in the change room, no one doubts even one per cent, because we played with the right attitude and the will to win every game that we played,” he said.

Coming to the game at the Oval, England beat India by 118 runs to wrap up the series. Not many had given India a chance to bat for long after they were 3 down for just 2 while chasing 464. However, centuries from KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant revived their hopes before England dismissed both of them in quick succession and wiped the tail to win the game.