India lost another Test match that was well within their grasp and a visibly disappointed Virat Kohli said the fourth Test was lost in the first innings.
India were on course to posting a big first innings total when a rare rash shot from the skipper himself saw India collapse from 142/3 to 195/5. Eventually, Cheteshwar Pujara hit an unbeaten 132 to give India a narrow 27-run lead.
“It’s very difficult to recognise key moments in the first innings of a Test match. But they turn out to be very big moments in a Test match eventually in the course of the whole game. As I mentioned after I got out, I myself felt that had I batted for longer that day the lead could have been bigger. But even after that we thought we could get a couple of more partnerships and extend the lead if possible,” said Kohli at the post-match press conference.
“Eventually Pujara had to play a blinder to get us to a lead of 30 odd. So that’s the only thing that I feel, we could have extended our lead a bit more in this first innings. Apart from that as I said as captain I don’t see many areas we need to think of as negatives because we tried our best. We definitely pushed England to earn a victory and they played better cricket than us for longer periods.”
A delighted England skipper Joe Root said: “I thought as a whole group we performed exceptionally well. That’s a testament to the skill levels and the attitude of the team.”