ENG vs IND 2018: Not Very Proud Of The Way We Played: Virat Kohli

India skipper Virat Kohli expressed his disappointment over the team’s performance in the second England vs India Test and credited the hosts for their clinical show. England thrashed the visitors by an innings and 159 runs to go 2-0 up in the series.

For the fourth time in as many innings, the Indian batsmen looked in total discomfort in front of the moving deliveries. As a result, it took England only 82.2 overs to bowl the visitors out for just in the second innings. As a result, despite the first day being entirely washed out and several rain breaks, England won the game inside four days.

It was a batting display that is not all all expected from a side which is on the top of Test rankings for almost two years now. Trailing by a mammoth 289, India were in desperate need of a good start. However, the first wicket fell even before bothering the scorer. James Anderson once again dismissed Murali Vijay for a duck to give England a flying start.

He soon sent back KL Rahul to put England on top. At lunch, India were 17 for 2. After the lunch, it was Stuart Broad’s turn to torment the visitors.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane could add only 18 runs after the break before Stuart Broad dismissed the latter. 15 runs later, Broad castled Pujara to put England on top. Any chances of avoiding an innings then soon disappeared after Broad removed Kohli to leave India reeling at 61 for 5. On the very next delivery, he accounted for Dinesh Karthik to all but seal India’s fate.

At that stage, it looked as if India are set to post a below-100 total. However, R Ashwin and Hardik Pandya stopped the rot. The duo stitched together a 55-run stand to help India cross the 100-run mark. Chris Woakes broke the stand by dismissing Pandya. The lower-order could not delay the inevitable for long as India were all out for 130.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Kohli said:

“Not very proud of the way we played to be honest. First time in last five Test matches we’ve been outplayed. Credit to England. They were clinical. When a team plays like that they deserve to be on the winning side. Can’t really think about those things (conditions not in favour). You have to counter the conditions as and when they come to you.

He also said that India’s playing eleven for the game was not spot on, saying:

“Can’t crib about these things. Sometimes the rub of the green will go your way too. Won’t sit around and say that we didn’t have the best of conditions. Their bowlers were relentless with the ball. Looking at things now, the weather was so unpredictable, I think we got the combination a bit off.”

The 29-year old concluded by giving an update on his stiff back.

“Lower back issue coming up again and again. Confident I’ll be fine in five days time,” he said.