We missed quite a few chances: Kohli

Despite a 1-4 loss to England, India skipper Virat Kohli defended his team, saying the scorecard does not show but both teams know that the fiveTest series was a competitive one.

“Credit has to go to both those young guys (KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant) for stepping up on this stage. From three wickets down, it takes guts. It might not show in the scoreline but both sides played in great spirit. That was an example of two guys not giving up and entertaining the crowd. This has been one of the best series I’ve been involved in, and a great advert for Test cricket,” said Kohli, who was named India’s Man-of-the-Series.

Chasing 464 for victory on Day 5 of the final Test at The Oval, the visitors folded up for 345 but not before Rahul (149) and Pant (114) struck brilliant centuries to give a fighting chance on Tuesday. The two put together a sixthwicket partnership of 204 runs, the biggest of the game but the tail succumbed to English bowlers quickly. “We didn’t speak about the result, we just wanted to go out and see what happens, waiting and watching. Things can change very quickly, that’s the beauty of this format. Take nothing away from those two guys, especially someone like Rishabh, who’s come in and shown grit and determination. We certainly have the belief. It was a great preview of what’s in store for him,” said Kohli.

On regrets, the India skipper said: “Definitely we will sit down and think about, if we had taken those opportunities, we missed quite a few. When both teams are going for wins, you can have a result that looks like that (4-1), they don’t go for draws. They were fearless, you hardly have draws in these tense series and that’s what the scoreline shows. I’m not saying it wasn’t a fair scoreline, because they played better than us, but we can take a lot of heart and apply lessons to how we play Test cricket.”