Kohli reiterates India's batting 'intent', hints playing with same bowling 'template' at Lord's

India were certainly in with a great chance to win the first game of the series, at least in the views of skipper Virat Kohli, if not for the “shame” of persistent rain on the final day of the Test. 

He rued the bad weather on the final day however they had expected similar weather conditions on the third and fourth day of the game. He expressed bullish about India’s opportunities going into the final day and said that the batting group was looking forward to get going at the start of the day.

“We were expecting rain on day 3 and 4, and it chooses to arrive on day 5 when we were looking to have a good crack at the target. We wanted to start strong, and heading into day five we felt we had the chance right in front of the ball. We certainly felt we were right on top, and it's a shame we couldn't complete day five,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Former England skipper Michael Atherton, who was hosting the presentation ceremony commended the Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma for fighting it out in the tough conditions in the late hours of the fourth day. Kohli took it on from Atherton’s words of appreciation and said that the start was really positive that set the precedence of the team’s confidence going into the final day.

He reiterated that India’s approach has not been about “survival” and instead they have focussed on capitalising on scoring opportunities presented by the England bowlers.

“We got to 50 overnight, a real positive for us. It wasn't just about survival, it was about getting the boundaries when we got the chance,” Kohli added.

India were helped by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, who added 70 runs between them to stretch the lead to 95 runs. India’s last three batsmen have not been contributing to the team’s total for some time before the first Test against England Kohli asked to discuss the improvement shown by them as well.

Kohli lauded their “tremendous job” and credited the lead of 95 runs squarely to the efforts they put in the nets before the Test match.

“It's the hard work of three-odd weeks. They were in the nets regularly, and we got a lead of 95 purely from their efforts. I think they did a tremendous job with the bat,” the skipper said.

Atherton also pressed Kohli on the issue of team selection as India had taken a big decision of overlooking Ravichandran Ashwin for superior batting numbers of Ravindra Jadeja and the seam bowling option of Shardul Thakur. 

The move worked perfectly well for the tourists as Shardul bagged four wickets across the two innings while Jadeja scored a brilliant counter-attacking half century in the first innings to put India on the path of ascendency.

Now, Kohli has asserted that India would be keen to continue with the “template” of playing with four pacers and one spinner going ahead in the series. However, he has not ruled out condition-specific adaptations going forward in a “blockbuster” series against England.

“Most likely this will be our template in this series, but adaptability has been our strength. The conditions and the pace on the wicket needs to be seen, but this team will be our template. England and India have always been a blockbuster, and looking forward to the next Test,” Kohli signed off.

The second Test of the series is scheduled to start on August 12 at Lord’s in London.