India vs England | Virat Kohli prioritises team performance over individual accolades

Four years ago, Team India toured England and played four Test matches losing by a margin of 3-1 to the hosts. Kohli was still a fresh face back then and endured one of his worst outings with the Indian team till date. The Indian captain returned with scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6 and 20 in five Tests, as he averaged 13.50 in his ten innings. He followed that up with 0, 40, 1* and 13 in ODIs.

However, his performance in the ODI series that India narrowly lost and in the first Test at Edgbaston have been proof that what’s happened in the past will not determine his legacy. The Indian skipper scored a brave 149 and 51 in the two innings at Edgbaston and was the only Indian to cross the 50-run mark during the entire game. He successfully proved his naysayers wrong as he almost single-handedly kept the visitors in the game despite a frustrating result that ended with a 31-run loss.

However, the 29-year old revealed that his own achievements on the pitch won’t amount to much if the team fail to win as a single unit when he spoke at a reception held at the residence of Indian high commissioner Y K Sinha in Kensington Palace Gardens on Tuesday. Kohli was accompanied by the entire team and coach Ravi Shastri.

“We play with passion and always try to give our best. It is not about individuals but the entire team”, Kohli said. 

The reception also saw former cricketers such as Farokh Engineer, Dilip Doshi, and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka make an appearance. The star-studded affair also included leading members of the Indian community, such as industrialist Swraj Paul, senior Labour MP Virendra Sharma, Conservative MP Priti Patel, and novelist Jeffrey Archer among others.

The Indian team will go up against the Three Lions in the second Test match that is scheduled to begin on Thursday at the birthplace of cricket - Lord’s.