Virat Kohli highlights the importance of touring nations with quality opposition

India slumped to a daunting loss in the ongoing Test series against England as they ruled out a potential comeback after the home team raced off to a 3-1 lead with a win at Southampton in the fourth Test. This was India’s 10th consecutive Test series loss on English soil and their second Test series loss in the 2018-19 season. 

But Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, insisted that despite the setbacks, what was more important was the quality of the opposition that the team played against. England, who are the fifth-ranked Test team in the ICC list, displayed their brilliance across the four matches, with some eye-catching performances from the likes of Sam Curran, Jos Buttler, and Moeen Ali.

The Delhi-born batsman also highlighted the issues when it came to the preparation for the UK tour. After the IPL and a one-off Test match against Afghanistan, the Indian team had fatigue when they took on Ireland as warm-up for the English series, which was clearly not up to the mark to face Joe Root & Co.

“Lot of people talk about tour games but where are those tour games happening and against what quality of bowling are very important questions to be asked. Because if you don’t get the preparation you need before a Test series, then it is actually not utilised well. Time is not utilised well if you don’t get the quality of opposition that you will face in Test cricket,” Kohli said an interview with Michael Holding for ‘Sony Liv’.

When it came to the current series against the three lions, the 29-year old cited two crucial phases during the series - the second innings chase at the Edgbaston (1st Test) and the first innings at Southampton (fourth Test).

“Sitting right now, two things – the second innings at Birmingham and first innings at Southampton. Sitting here, I am not thinking of anything else. The key was to make the team win and twice I could have contributed more.

“I know Trent Bridge was great but I remember second innings at Birmingham and first innings at Southampton and I am thinking about that. I am thinking so that if I am in the same position once again, I won’t let the team down,” the Indian captain added.

From an individual point of view, the number one Test batsman scored nearly 550 runs in four Tests. But he did admit that it “hurt” losing matches from a position of dominance, especially in the first game where India lost by a narrow margin of 31 runs.

"It was a competitive series and we have already understood and admitted the things that we haven’t done well. That’s something we are keen to improve on as to get into competitive positions, you understand that you have the ability. But ability only takes you to a certain extent and then your mental toughness comes into play when you have to win Test series in difficult conditions and difficult countries, something that we aspire to do.

“When you don’t do that being in winning positions, obviously hurts more than anything. Probably, that’s frustrating, we have shown skill sets to get into winning positions and not capitalise on them. Try and get better as a team. Provided we are mentally tougher than opposition in difficult situations,” he added.