Kohli gets sweet revenge
India skipper Virat Kohli was delighted with his side’s performance as they completed a series victory by beating England in Mumbai.
India suffered a series defeat to England back in 2014 and Kohli was itching to get revenge which has showed in his demeanor throughout the contest with the tourists.
The home side secured the series with an innings and 36 run victory with Ravi Ashwin making short work of the English tail on Monday morning leaving India leading the five match series 3-0.
Kohli said in the post-match presentation: “This series win is probably the sweetest of all we’ve won in the past 14-15 months.
“It couldn’t get any better, in the Wankhede you win 3-0 against a top quality side that has beaten us convincingly. It feels really good.”
The skipper showed steely determination as he wrested control of the game from England with his double ton as he rallied the tail to help his side to a big first innings lead.
Kohli said of his mindset: “I was pretty focussed on this game.
“We were 2-0 up with a chance to seal the series so we can go to Chennai and express ourselves. The plan was to get stuck in, I got away immediately and sometimes that happens that you get boundaries and the nerves calm down.
“I wouldn’t say I wasn’t nervous, I indeed was especially when there was 400 on the board. After we had that bit of a collapse I buckled down again, not getting satisfied, I knew I had to score many more for us to be in a commanding position.
“I felt the advantage we had was that England had a spinner less and those two guys [Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid] really got tired by the end of it after 50-plus overs. We knew bad balls would come our way.
“If you don’t bowl your fast bowlers on a regular basis on pitches like these they lose confidence and when they come on they are thinking of stopping runs instead of taking wickets. That’s something we sensed and went after them hard.”
Kohli feels the difference between the two teams has been India’s ability to apply themselves and play defensively when they needed to.
He concluded: “It’s about the application.
“Their batsmen have hardly blocked six balls in a row and we’ve worked on our defence. It’s very important playing in India, if you don’t have a good defence in India it’s very difficult to counter the type of bowling we have.
“We sensed they don’t have enough faith in the way they went about their business, even the second innings here was a lot of shots and we knew it was just a matter of time that we’d get a couple of wickets and it would crumble.
“They aren’t sure about taking the innings long. As soon as we plugged the boundaries they had no way out because our bowlers are very consistent. We’ve worked on our defence and thrive on it. We enjoy thinking of it.”
Latest
-
News
On this day in 2018: Australian trio banned after ball-tampering saga
The trio were handed their punishments on March 28, 2018.
-
County Cricket
Surrey stars eager to help Alec Stewart sign off with more silverware
Stewart has guided Surrey to three County Championship wins during his decade in charge.
-
Women's Cricket
Maia Bouchier smashes 91 as England Women seal T20 series victory
England made 177 for three and then restricted New Zealand to 130 for seven.
-
County Cricket
Yorkshire boosted by Harry Brook and Joe Root’s early-season availability
Both players are not at the Indian Premier League.
-
England
Ollie Pope ‘itching’ to get back scoring runs after ‘frustrating’ tour of India
The England vice-captain hit a superb 196 in Hyderabad, but averaged only 14.75 in the next four Tests of the India series.
-
Women's Cricket
Ellyse Perry says Ashes Test at MCG ‘amazing’ but unsure about four-day return
Australia will host England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the Women’s Ashes early next year.
-
County Cricket
Harry Brook set to return for start of Yorkshire’s County Championship campaign
Brook withdrew from England’s Test tour of India in January due to personal reasons.
-
England
England spinner Tom Hartley expects his exploits in India to be ‘life changing’
Hartley’s second-innings haul of seven for 62 in Hyderabad delivered one England’s greatest ever overseas victories.
-
Women's Cricket
Heather Knight urges more composure from England after New Zealand collapse
The tourists needed just 29 from 29 balls with eight wickets in hand.
-
Australia
On this day in 2018: Australia ‘sandpapergate’ ball-tampering controversy erupts
The incident led to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft being banned from playing for Australia.