ENG vs IND 2018: We Have Some Strong Plans In Place For Virat Kohli: Joe Root

England captain Joe Root has insisted his team has plans in place to stop his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli.

Root said his side would love to see Kohli having the same form that saw him scoring just 134 runs from ten innings, as India lost the series 3-1. He scored 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6 and 20 in the five Tests and finished the series with an average of 13.40.

The right-handed batsman was troubled mainly on the off stump line in England, as he ended up edging those deliveries behind the stumps. Virat was caught behind the stumps on six occasions (once by the keeper and five times in the slip cordon).

James Anderson had made current India skipper his bunny, dismissing him four times in six innings.

“From our perspective, we’d love similar form but we know how good a player he is and what he is capable of. He’s come a long way in the last few years in this format in particular. We feel we have some strong plans in place for him but ultimately when you play against the world’s best players they generally have answers,” said Root on the eve of the first Test.

However, Kohli has come a long way since that disastrous tour. The last time England had played against India in Tests, Kohli turned out to be the difference. In a series where no other batsmen could score 500, the India skipper had scored a staggering 655 runs at an average of over 109. It included one century, one double-century and two fifties as India decimated England 4-0.

He has also proved himself in Australia and South Africa and would be raring to leave his mark in England.

Root, meanwhile, further said that it would be important for England to ‘outperform India as a whole’ and not only focus on Kohli.

“I’m sure there are a lot of England fans out there that love watching him play. We obviously know he’s a world proven performer in this format and it’ll be very important for us to try and keep him quiet. But there are some other good players on show within these two teams and it’s important we make sure we outperform India as a whole,” he said.

The build-up to this Test has been marred by controversial inclusion of Adil Rashid in the Test team. The leg-spinner got the call despite seemingly abandoning his immediate Test career. Earlier this year, he had also taken a white-ball only contract from Yorkshire.

However, Root backed the selection of the leg-spinner, saying:

“Criticism against Rashid hasn’t affected us. He’s gone about his business as he has all summer and how he does it in the one-day side. He looks like he’s bowling extremely well and hopefully he can transfer that out in the middle now.

“Obviously I was in favour of the selection and I think it gives us a really great attacking spinning option. In terms of the criticism, people are entitled to their opinions and can voice what they want. I probably think it’s slightly unfair but that’s my opinion,” he said.

The much-awaited Test series gets underway on Wednesday ( August 1) in Birmingham.