Indian captain Virat Kohli on India’s bowlers after a spectacular victory in the Oval Test over England, hailing the performance as one of the top three under his watch.
It has become a norm for this Indian Test team to pull off incredible wins in overseas conditions time and again. After the Lord’s Test, the Indians pulled off another memorable victory in the fourth Test at Kennington Oval to lead the series by 2-1, with one match to go. The proud captain Virat Kohli spoke to Michael Atherton in the post-match presentation and showered praises on the Indian bowling attack.
“The best thing about the both wins is the character that the side has shown. If you look at how the game panned: 100-run lead that England had in the first innings – to come back from there and the way we batted in the second innings showed that we are not down and out.”
India were bowled out for 191 in the first innings, but they did well to restrict the deficit to only 99 runs. After which, they put on a huge total of 466 in the second innings to set England a target of 368 with nearly four sessions to go.
The hosts scored 77 runs at the end of the fourth day without losing a wicket and all four results were possible on the last day. Indian bowlers, especially in the second session, put on an outstanding display of bowling to turn the match in their favour.
“Especially this morning the way the team has bowled. It is definitely among top three bowling performances that I have witnessed as Indian captain.”
The Oval pitch was relatively flat throughout the Test, but Kohli stated that they were always in the game, with Ravindra Jadeja bowling in the rough and the sun beating down. The Indian pacers made great use of the reverse swing on offer as they picked six wickets in the second session.
“With Jadeja bowling from one end into the rough – the ball got scuffed up quite nicely and we managed to make one side heavier. And our guys, when the ball is reversing enough, they become much more lethal, and we exploited reverse swing perfectly today.”
Kohli lauded Jasprit Bumrah’s effort after Lunch, where he bowled six overs for six runs and pegged England back with two huge blows – the top scorer of the first innings Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow. He bowled a delivery angling in into the right-hander and nipped off the seam to castle Pope.
He bowled a searing inswinging yorker in his next over, which left Bairstow clueless as the ball rattled the stumps. He bowled two more pitch-perfect yorkers to the English skipper that only in-form Root could have dugged out. The cricketing world was in awe of one of the greatest spells by an Indian pacer, which read 6-2-6-2.
“Absolutely unbelievable spell. As soon as the ball started reversing a bit, Jasprit just said: “Just give me the ball.” And he bowled that six-over spell and got us two breakthroughs which completely shifted the momentum to our side. From there on, we knew anymore mistakes from England and we will be all over this game.”
Kohli also praised the opening batter Rohit Sharma, who scored his first overseas Test century that has eluded him for seven years. Rohit’s knock of 127 put the visitors in a position where they could start thinking about the victory.
Kohli reserved special praises for Shardul Thakur, who smashed 57 off just 36 balls in the first innings to give the team a moral boost after the collapse. Thakur also scored 60 off 72 in the second innings and picked crucial wickets of Pope, Rory Burns and Root across two innings.
“Rohit’s innings was outstanding – playing against a 100-run lead as an opener and the conditions were overcast, and his knock was the difference in the second innings. But the impact performance we were looking from a lower middle-order point of view, what Shardul has done in this game has to be remembered for a long time.”
With a 2-1 lead in the series, India will take on England in the last Test at Old Trafford from September 10. Kohli’s men have an opportunity to clinch a series victory in England and write their legacy as one of the greatest Test sides in the history – in the league of West Indies and Australia of the past.
