London: A proud Virat Kohli rated Monday his team’s bowling performance in the fourth Test among top-three in his captaincy stint. Virat Kohli extolled his players’ strong characters as India produced a superb 157-run win against England. The Oval track did not offer much assistance to the fast bowlers. However, Jasprit Bumrah Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur shared seven wickets to bundle out England for 210 to script a convincing victory for the Men in Blue.
“This is among the top three bowling performances I have witnessed as India captain,” Kohli said. He seemed to be always smiling during the presentation ceremony.
Kohli did not put much emphasis on the fact that it was a flat and placid track where his bowlers produced exceptional performance. He hailed the strong character his players displayed after conceding a 99-run first innings lead.
“It’s quite relative what you call flat. The conditions were hot and we knew were in with an opportunity when Jadeja was bowling in the rough. The bowlers were good with the reverse swing today (Monday). We believed we could get all 10 wickets, we had the belief,” asserted Kohli.
“Well, I think the best thing about both the games (Lord’s and Oval) has been the character the team have showed. We were not looking to survive in this game, we were here to win. Really proud of the character the team has showed,” Kohli added.
Bumrah made a huge impact on the game with his spell in the second session of the day. He dismissed Ollie Pope (2) and Jonny Bairstow (0). Kohli informed that it was Bumrah who wanted to have a go at the England bowlers at that time and delivered.
“As soon as the ball started reversing, Bumrah said give me the ball. He bowled that spell and swung the game in our favour with those two huge wickets,” Kohli said.
For Kohli, the all-round performance of Shardul Thakur was also the key in his side’s emphatic win.
“What Shardul has done in this game stands out. His two fifties deflated the opposition. He batted well in both the innings,” Kohli said. “You pointed out his performance. Rohit’s (Sharma) innings was also fantastic.”
When pointed out that his decision to keep R Ashwin on the bench stood vindicated, Kohli explained his position. “We never go towards analysis, statistics and numbers. We know what we need to focus on and we take a collective decision as a group. Whatever the noise on the outset, it doesn’t bother us,” Kohli informed.
England skipper Joe Root too said that it was Bumrah’s spell that changed the game.
“Credit to India, they got the ball to reverse. I thought Bumrah’s spell was the real turning point of the game,” said the home captain. “It is frustrating not to get something from the game today. We felt we had an opportunity to win. We could have made more of a first-innings lead, and you have to make chances count against world-class players. Got to find ways to get better but be realistic and realise that was world-class bowling,” Root added.