Our body language & intensity was not up to mark, says Kohli after 227-run defeat

Chennai: A disappointed Virat Kohli on Tuesday admitted that India’s body language and intensity was not up to the mark while England were more professional and consistent in the opening Test, here.

India suffered a huge 227-run defeat against England in the first Test. With this win, England have taken a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

“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,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

“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,” he added.

After winning the toss, England posted a massive first-innings score of 578, riding on skipper Joe Root’s 218. Dominic Sibley and Ben Stokes also made notable contributions of 87 and 82 respectively.

According to Kohli, India’s support bowlers didn’t create enough pressure on England and conceded way too many runs.

“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 Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin), were good in the first innings but we also needed to contain a few more runs and create pressure,” the Indian captain said.

“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. Just looked like not much was happening in it on the first two days,” he added.

The second Test of the four match series gets underway in Chennai from Saturday and India have only three days to work on their weakness. However, Kohli said India are good at bouncing back from tough situations and they will not let England run away with the momentum.

“No excuses. We are a side that accepts our failures and faults and learns from them. One thing is for sure that in the next three matches we are going to give a tough fight and not let things slip away like they did in this Test,” Kohli said.

“We have to start off with good body language and put pressure on the opposition. Understand fields, the pace of the pitch and what the bowlers are doing, all those kind of things will be crucial. In the end, it is the mindset and we are trying to get that back. We know how to bounce back and will give our best effort in the next game,” he added. (UNI)