Kohli praises lower order

India skipper has lauded the efforts of his teams bowlers both with the ball in hand and with the willow as they beat England by 8 wickets in the third Test in Mohali.

Kohli shared some fiery exchanges with England’s Ben Stokes during the Test which added to the skippers delight at having bested the tourists.

The captain is thrilled that the team have performed so well on pitches that were not wild turners.

Kohli told the post match press conference: “None of the pitches have been turners. We have just played very good cricket. We are getting more and more confident. For our quicks to hurry their batsmen is great too.”

Kohli admitted he was surprised that England cheered when they won the toss.

The skipper said: “I was surprised to hear the cheer when they won the toss. You still have to go out and win the game. We got motivated by that actually. We lost the toss, bowled them out for 280. Very happy with the way the guys have stood up.”

Kohli made 62 in the first innings but few of his top order colleagues came to the party instead Ravi Ashwin (72), Ravindra Jadeja (90) and Jayant Yadav (55) made huge contributuons.

He went on: “It was amazing to see the lower order contribute. The lower-order contribution is a proud achievement. That pushes the opposition back. Ashwin is a champion, No. 1 allrounder, Jadeja is in the top 10, and for Jayant to show the maturity in his first Tests. He asked me for the fields he wanted. He took their spinners on.”

Mohammed Shami grabbed a couple of wickets on day four with brilliantly bowled short balls proving his value to the team.

Kohli lauded the return of the fast bowler from injury: “Shami feels the injury was a blessing in disguise. He has become more hard-working. He has come back fitter and stronger.”

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