England Bowled Well; India Needed Better Response: Virat Kohli

India lost the third Test against England by an innings and 76 runs at Leeds.

Virat Kohli listens during the presentation ceremony after their loss on the fourth day of third test cricket match between England and India, at Headingley cricket ground in Leeds

Image: PTI

After the high of Lord’s, India led by Virat Kohli were handed a reality check of sorts at Leeds by England, who won the third Test by an innings and 76 runs. Kohli, after the match, said that India did not respond well in the face of pressure from the hosts as the crumbled on Day 4 in the morning session.

India had been bowled out for 78 on Day 1 and lost 8 wickets in less than two hours on Day 4 as England’s pacers ran riot.

“It's down to scoreboard pressure. We knew we were up against it when we were out for 80 and the opposition put up a big score. We put up crucial partnerships and saw the day through, but the pressure from the English bowlers was brilliant this morning and we didn't respond well,” Kohli said.

“Batting collapses can happen in this country, the pitch was good to bat on, but their discipline with the ball forced us to make a few mistakes, and it was difficult to deal with spells where we weren't getting runs. We didn't make good decisions as a batting side.”

While India struggled with the bat, England’s top order finally got going with both openers scoring fifties before Joe Root smashed another century.

“The pitch looked good to bat on, and when England batted it hadn't changed much, so they had a lot more intent with the bat, made better decisions. They were the deserving side to win to be honest.”

Among the things that have concerned India so far on this tour has been the batting depth, but Kohli said the failures were more down to the top order not getting enough runs.

“You could say that we don't have enough batting depth, but the top order has to give enough runs to the lower middle order to step up. The lower order can't bail the team out all the time. We don't have much other than the batting in the second innings to take from this game in terms of positives.”

“We need to correct our flaws quickly and we've done this before, and we look forward to the Oval Test.”

India and England now move to London for the next Test at The Oval beginning 2 September.