Virat Kohli dedicates Trent Bridge victory to Kerala flood victims

Kohli led from the front with scores of 97 and 103 at Trent Bridge as Team India hammered the hosts by 203 runs to stage a comeback in the series. After the win here, the Indian cricketers didn’t forget the victims of the devastating severe flood in the southern Indian state of Kerala, which not only took many lives but also left many people homeless. 

“We as a team want to dedicate this win to the flood victims in Kerala. This is our bit we can do as the Indian cricket team. A tough time there,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation.

The Delhi man was adjudged Man of the Match for his splendid batting in both the innings of the Test match and did speak about that and also credited Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara for the crucial partnerships with him in the first and second wickets respectively.

“The partnership between me and Ajinkya was crucial if you look back at the Test. Ajinkya was clear in his mindset in the first innings, and when he goes out and plays like that, he is attractive to watch and he can change the complexion of the game. It was about getting stuck and not throwing our wickets away. They're a quality attack and you need grit and determination to score against them, and Ajinkya did that in the first innings and Pujara in the 2nd. 

“I haven't thought about the 2014 failures, but I'd like to dedicate this to my wife who is here and keeps motivating me. She's copped a lot in the past but she deserves the credit for this one,” said Kohli.

Speaking about the Indian pacers clocking good speed in the Test match and troubling the hosts, the Indian skipper said, “The four fastest bowlers in the series have been Indians and we're proud of our fitness levels. We want the opposition to bat well and get runs and we don't want to gift them any, we we want to get rid of loose balls. They're getting into that kind of a mindset and getting Test runs should be difficult.”

After losing the first two games, now India have bounced back well to make it 2-1 in the series with two matches still remaining. The Indian captain is confident enough and wants his side to put up a great show in next two matches.

“We definitely believe we can come back from 0-2 to 3-2, we just need to keep moving forward, keep winning. We wouldn't be 2-1 if we didn't believe. The respect and the belief in the change room is important, and one must keep wanting to win. We need to bring out the impact performances in the next two Tests as well,” said a confident Indian captain.

A combined team effort by the Indians ensured this win and they are alive in the series now. The batters put up a good show that allowed the bowlers to continuously attack the English batsmen. The Indian fielders were also impressive during the entire course of the game.

“We dominated in this game because we put runs on the board and then the bowlers did well, they were waiting and ready, even Ashwin did well with his injury. The bowling was ready to take 20 wickets again, and I'm glad the batsmen stepped up. So we, as batsmen, did well to give them a cushion for the bowlers to go hard. Even the slips did well, and this mix of all skills couldn't have come at a better time,” Kohli stated.