It depends on how you think about it after the dismissal, says Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was the only player to have impacted the first Test at Edgbaston with his batting as the rest of the Indian batsmen were evidently finding it very difficult to hold onto their firm ground. However, his brilliant tally of 200 in two innings, 149 runs in the first and 51 in the second, eventually fell short as India lost to England by 31 runs.

Sending a messege ahead of the second Test at Lord's, Kohli stated that the crowd should stop being so judgemental about India's batting line up. Focusing on the mental aspect of the game, he mentioned that he would be expecting the players to be composed apart from being aggressive on occasions.

“We should not judge so fast, and jump into conclusions. As a team, we keep patience. We don't judge so fast. We don't see any pattern to (the failures). As far as wickets falling in a heap is concerned, it is not about technique, it is more of a mental aspect. It depends on how you think about it after the dismissal. There must be a clear plan on how to face the first 20-30 balls, and more often than not that plan does not involve aggression. There we need some composure, other than aggression, As a batting unit we have discussed that,” Kohli said, reported Cricbuzz.

The loss at Edgbaston was kind of equivalent to the one India had experienced in Adelaide back in 2014, where Kohli's brilliant innings could not pilot India towards a win. Elaborating on that experience, Kohli stated that he would be glad if the team wins whether he personally scores or not.

“If I hadn't got the runs and we had won, I would have got a totally different feeling, very natural aspect of playing team sport. My job as a batsman when I go out there is to score runs as a team. I am trying my level best to do that whenever possible. It is not going to happen every time, but when it does I want to try and contribute as much as possible. I definitely don't see this as a pattern. It is unfortunate we haven't been able to cross the line after coming so close, that is the only thing we are looking to how we cross the line. It doesn't matter whether I get the (team) over the line or Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) does or Vijay does or KL Rahul does or whoever does, as long as we cross the line, that is the only thing that matters,” Kohli said

He further mentioned that there has been in place a specific technique to succeed in conditions and it would totally depend on the players for every individual batsman has their different way of coping.

“As a batsman it is very difficult for me to point it out. Individuals react differently to different things, variable reasons as to why a particular player is doing a certain thing on the field. That goes into the preparation bit as well. How I prepare will be very different from another player and so on, every other player in the team,” he said.

“Now I am in a zone where I have to respect a good ball, back my ability and play for as long as I can. You are definitely going to get out, you just delay that. It is not that you can't get out in sport and in cricket. You just have to try and delay that eventuality which as batsman we all try to achieve,” Kohli added.