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We did not capitalise on important moments: Virat Kohli

India skipper Virat Kohli says the team is not happy about winning an odd Test match but want to win series

India skipper Virat Kohli says a 1-4 series defeat is not a reflection of how they played cricket

London, September 12: After a 1-4 series defeat to England, India skipper Virat Kohli said the team did not capitalise on important moments in the series and wanted to do so in future.

Kohli tips hat to 'relentless' Anderson

"We do not look at this series as something that makes us think we can't play in overseas conditions, of course we can play, but can we capitalise on the important moments better than the opposition? At the moment, no, we haven't done that, but in future, we want to do that, and that is the only way we win series and our aim is to win series, not to win the odd Test match and be happy about it.

"We are definitely not happy about the way the series has gone, but the way we played cricket is something that, not me, no one in the change room, no one doubts even one per cent, because we played with the right attitude and the will to win every game that we played," said Kohli after the match.

ENGLAND WIN SERIES 4-1ENGLAND WIN SERIES 4-1

Despite being competitive in many part of the series and challenging England, India could not cross the line but Kohli was more keen to look at the way India players kept on competing in the series.

"We don't see a massive-massive portion that we need to correct, because if you are competing in every game, and you have an upper hand in every game at some stage or the other, you are doing something right, we are not starting behind all the time you know, we have fought back in this series, England has had to fight back a few times, so they deserved to win because they played better than us, that is how we look at this series," he said.

Head coach Ravi Shastri's comments about this team being the best in the last 15 years or so had raised objections from several quarters. Though Kohli was not as open as Shastri, he made a veiled statement that the current bunch competed better than the previous ones.

"Lot of teams in the past basically had given up but we did not do so. Look we don't think like people on the outside I have said before and again. And this kind of series shows you exactly the kind of character of individuals is and I see that as an opportunity and not adversity because if you keep winning all the time a lot of faults are swept under the carpet. And I don't see any series like that, they haven't been tough at all because of the kind of cricket we have played. I know people conveniently choose not to look at that but that's not us," said Kohli.

Kohli used the examples of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, who made 204 runs for the sixth wicket partnership, to elaborate on the show of character and fighting in tough situations.

"The one thing that we spoke about was how we react to the fifth day's play is going to determine a lot of what happens in the future for all of us. It is very easy to surrender and say its too difficult or we might not be able to do this ... I mean that partnership was something like a great show of character. Not many people will realize it but they look at it as (England) might not have been interested or might not have had motivation but that wasn't the case clearly because they were going for the win," said Kohli.

Kohli said the team had indeed discussed about the missed opportunities during the series.

"We've had conversations around specific situations we were in and why they went away from us. A lot of time it's been on missed opportunities. It's literally one part of a session that we've given away and the whole Test match starts running away because the opposition senses it and they are more relentless about being on top. We have definitely spoken to individuals understand what they were thinking in certain situations.

"But of what happened on the field, why it took place and what was the thought process behind it, so that we can go totally into the root of the issue and try and correct it form there rather than just telling guys this was the cause and then you need to correct yourself. We have spoken to guys individually, yes," he said.

Story first published: Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 10:42 [IST]
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