Being competitive not enough: Kohli

Southampton, Sept. 3: India captain Virat Kohli said being “competitive” was not enough after a 60run defeat by England in the fourth Test at Southampton condemned his side to yet another away series loss.

Sunday’s result, achieved with more than a day to spare, left England an unassailable 3- 1 up ahead of the fifth and final Test at The Oval in south London starting on Friday. For all India are the world’s topranked Test side, they have now won just one of their last nine series outside Asia.

“We can look at the scoreboard and say we were only 30 runs away or 50 runs away, but we have to recognise that when we are in the midst of the situation, and not later,” Kohli said.

“We know that we have played good cricket but we cannot say again and again to ourselves that we have competed.”

India only lost the first Test by 31 runs. Kohli is the leading batsman this series with his tally of 544 runs at an average of 68, including two hundreds.

But it still has not been enough to drag India to a series win. “When you come so close, there is an art of crossing the line as well, which we will have to learn,” Kohli insisted.

“We have the ability, which is why we are getting close to a result, and we have belief in that ability.

“But when a pressure situation comes, how we react to it... is something we have to work on a bit, and everyone is ready to work on that.”

At Southampton, India reduced England to 86 for six only for Sam Curran to again prove a thorn in their side, with the 20- yearold all- rounder’s Test- best 78 taking the hosts to 246 in their first innings.

“We’ve spoken about that, even during the match when we’re in a driving position, we should be able to capitalise on it and not let the opposition come in and fight back again and again,” said Kohli.

“At Nottingham we did that, for three days we were relentless and were on top. So we need to think about how to start a series like that as well,” added the India skipper.

India lost 2- 1 in a hardfought Test series in South Africa earlier this year and Kohli took some consolation from their performances in England as well. “We definitely feel that we have pushed the home side to earn victories and we haven’t thrown in the towel,” he said.

When you come so close, there is an art of crossing the line as well, which we will have to learn. — Virat Kohli, India skipper