England vs India 2018: Virat Kohli Feels Flexibility is Key to Repeat Success

Aug 30, 2018 at 12:31 PM

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England vs India 2018: Virat Kohli Feels Flexibility is Key to Repeat Success

Indian skipper Virat Kohli feels the flexibility within the team is key to repeat the success of Trent Bridge. Team India made a stunning comeback in the third Test against England in Nottingham and won the match by 203 runs. Courtesy the victory, the scoreline of the series is currently 2-1 in favor of the hosts. One of the major strong points for India in the previous Test was brilliant batting by the middle order. While Virat Kohli scored a 97 and a century, Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan also looked in great touch.

Kohli played well outside his crease to counter the swing and seam. Dhawan also played pretty late and reduced his bat speed to a considerable amount. Southampton is expected to possess a different challenge. It is expected to bounce more. India needs to rely on their basics and have to get the plans right for yet another win. The Indian skipper feels India shouldn’t be rigid with their plans and should adapt to the conditions depending upon the behavior of the pitch.

England v India 2018, Virat Kohli, Farokh Engineer
Virat Kohli. (Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)

“We have played and we don’t want to be rigid. You go into bat understanding you want to do a certain set of things but if the wicket is behaving totally different, you have to be flexible adjusting there and not having preset notions about going out there and wanting to play a certain way,” Virat Kohli said.

Kohli has led from the front quite admirably. He has stood deep in the crease and has at time-shifted his guard from leg to the middle, to put the bowlers off. The Indian skipper has smashed a couple of the fifties and a couple of centuries in the ongoing five match Test series so far.

“I’m pretty flexible like that even with the way I’ve played till now. I’ve changed where I stand. It’s not one position, it can vary from off stump to leg stump. If someone is trying to bowl too many in-swingers, you obviously change the position where you stand. You don’t want to be rigid. And it’s all about being flexible, accepting that once something changes, you have to change with it. If you are rigid, you are going to fall behind”.

England v India 2018, Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli feels flexibility is key to success (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“That was so beautiful in the last game, the batsmen adapted so quickly according to what the conditions were like. When they were more batting friendly, like me and Jinks were playing, we could play our shots. When it was seaming around in the second innings, or the first innings, to begin with, batsmen respected that as well. I thought we had a good balance between attack and defense in the last game. We would want to be flexible according to how the pitch plays or how much the ball swings or seams. Apart from the pitch, conditions are going to be a massive factor as well because it’s cold for the last couple of days and it’s going to remain like that from what I understand. We will have to assess the situation every hour I guess because it can change very rapidly.”

Kohli feels India should adapt to the conditions in Southampton 

Virat Kohli feels that adapting is not only for batsmen. The bowlers also need to adapt well and work together towards the success of the team. It has been a regular feature throughout the series. One needs to step up when the other one is not at his best and vice-versa.

“You feel very [happy] when you see bowlers doing very well. We’ve been talking about it for a while now that even if you score 800 or 1000 runs in Test matches if you don’t take wickets, victory won’t come. If you take 20 wickets, you will get a win or at least a draw.

“Instead of focussing on the batsmen, we’ve been focussing on the bowlers on how to take 20 wickets. That’s why we’ve played with five bowlers for a long time now. If we don’t play five bowlers, our chances of taking 20 wickets narrow. The good thing is the seamers on our side have gained good experience over the last 3-4 years. They’ve been bowling well as a unit which is the most exciting thing for me as a captain and for the whole team.

England vs India 2018, Virat Kohli, James Anderson
It will be an intense battle in the 4th Test in Southampton Getty Images.

“Be it a spell or bowling in a partnership, we feel happy when we are at the ground, at slips or even outside. It gives us happiness when we see our bowlers rushing the opposition batsmen. The game remains in balance and doesn’t shift completely to one side. Eventually, whichever side plays well, it will win the match. We don’t think we are at a disadvantage when it comes to pace bowling. We think we are equal to any team in the world and if we play well, we can win anywhere,” the Indian captain Virat Kohli summed up.

The fourth Test match will take place at Ageas Bowl, Southampton from today.

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