|| India Correspondent ||
Team India have lost to England in the first Test in Chennai and the India captain Virat Kohli has admitted that lack of intensity and poor body language was one of the main reasons for their 227-run defeat against England. With this win, England took a 1-0 lead in the four-match series as well as placed at the top of the World Test Championship's points table as well.
"Our body language and intensity was not up to the mark, second innings we were much better. We were better in the second half of the first innings with the bat, not the first four batters," said Virat Kohli at the post-match presentation ceremony. "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 were far more professional and consistent throughout the Test match than we were."
Batting first, England put up a mammoth total of 578 runs in the first innings, on the back of the captain Joe Root's double century (218). Apart from him, Dominic Sibley and Ben Stokes also scored 87 and 82 respectively. In reply, India could only manage 337. However, in their second innings, Indian bowlers did quite well as they successfully bundled out England for 178 runs n the board, courtesy the veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who claimed six wickets for 61. And, chasing 420 runs, India could manage 192 in 58.1 overs in the second session of the fifth and final day and eventually lost.
"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 Ashwin, were good in the first innings but we also needed to contain a few more runs and create pressure," shared Kohli.
"Having said that, it was a slow wicket and not helping the bowlers which made it easy for the batsmen to rotate strike and get into the game. [It] 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," he further added.
While Kohli said that the top-four batsmen need to contribute more in the upcoming games, he also added that the poor show from the spinners Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Nadeem was also one of the reasons why India couldn't win the game.
"That's a fair assessment [the fourth and fifth bowlers not being up to the mark]. 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," he revealed.
"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. We are always learning as a side and evolving as a side and Test cricket is tough," he expressed.
As New Zealand have already qualified the final of the World Test Championship, it will be interesting to see which team will have their impact and grab the second place in the final, that will take place at Lord's in June. Both the team will take on each other in the second Test at the same venue, which is starting from Saturday.
