Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 9 (ANI): After suffering a 227-run loss in the first Test against England, India skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday admitted that the body language and intensity of his side were not up to the mark in the first innings of the Chennai Test.
On day five of the first Test, James Anderson and Jack Leach stole the show for England as the duo took seven wickets among themselves to bundle out hosts for 192. Kohli top-scored for India as he played a knock of 72 runs. With this loss, England jumped to the first spot in World Test Championship (WTC) standings while India has slipped to the fourth spot.
As a result of this loss against England, India suffered their first defeat on home soil for the first time in the last four years. The last time India were defeated at home was way back in 2017 as Australia outclassed Kohli’s side at Pune.
“I don’t think we put enough pressure on them with the ball in the first half. Collectively as a bowling unit, fast bowlers and Ash (Ashwin), were good in the first innings but we also needed to contain a few more runs and create pressure. Having said that, it was a slow wicket and not helping the bowlers which made it easy for the batsmen to rotate the strike and get into the game,” Kohli told host broadcaster Star Sports after the conclusion of the match.
“Just looked like not much happening in it on the first two days. But credit to England, they got stuck in and put up a big total on the board. Our body language and intensity were not up to the mark, the second innings we were much better,” he added.
Kohli was also critical of the performance of the top-order batsmen in the first innings and the skipper opined that the first innings batting show went a long way in India losing this Test match.
“We were better in the second half of the first innings with the bat, not the first four batters. We have to understand the things that we have done decently in this game and the things that we haven’t and as a side, we are always looking to improve. England was far more professional and consistent throughout the Test match than we were,” said Kohli.
On the performance of Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar, Kohli said: “You need your bowling unit to step up and create pressure on the opposition. We didn’t achieve that in this game which is fine, lack of execution is acceptable but to understand our mindset was right is very important for us. I think we did well in the second innings with the ball and put pressure on them. With the bat as well we left a few things to be desired and analysed as batsmen with the kind of decisions we took.”
It was a perfect day for England despite India skipper Kohli showing resilience in the second innings. The England bowlers dominated the hosts right from the start of the final day. Shubman Gill showed a glimmer of hope but that was short-lived as Anderson ran riot dismissing Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rishabh Pant.
On day four, England was bowled out for 178 in the second innings and as a result, India was set a target of 420 to win. In the dying minutes on day four of the ongoing first, Leach clean bowled Rohit Sharma and the hosts were given a major blow.
Earlier, in the first innings, England skipper Joe Root played a knock of 218 runs and he also became the first player in the history of cricket to register a century in his 100th Test. (ANI)
