Thought England would come out with more intent: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli and the India Test team continue to climb higher. With a clinical performance in Vishakapatnam, they beat a fighting England side by 246 runs - their second highest win in terms of margin of runs against England. The win gave India a 1-0 lead after two Tests. It also helped them extend their unbeaten run at home, one that stretches back to 2012, when the lost to England in Kolkata.

As expected, Kohli was a happy man at the post-match press conference as he lauded his team for the win. Excerpts:

Importance of the big first innings

(Having won the toss, India amassed 455 in the first innings thanks to hundreds from Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara)

First innings is quite important in India. In Rajkot too, when the match ended, the general feeling was that England played better cricket than us. But once you put a total on the board, if there is nothing in the wicket, then you feel pressure of the big runs. We saw that in this match too as we had a total of 450-460 (455). So the batsmen know they cannot afford to make mistakes. And if you make mistakes, 3-4 wickets can fall in one session, so we were able to get 200 runs lead because of that. I think first innings is quite important, because afterwards the pitch becomes difficult. The more runs you make initially then those runs come handy because you have a bigger target and more overs against the opposition batsmen. So at the start if you can get 100-150 runs extra then you get advantage of that in the second innings for sure.

On England's fight...

(Chasing a massive target, England made India work for their wickets on Day four as they batted more than fifty overs without a wicket)

As I said even after the last game, England is a side we do not take for granted. We understand that they have quality players, who have played a lot of cricket, their captain has over 100 Tests and they have a couple of other players. So you expect them to show that resilience, character and fight. It is a learning process for us as well to be patient and to fight. I think that the way we bowled yesterday was magnificent. Not giving away more than 1.4 per over, we thought they would come out with more intent, to be very honest. And to see the approach that they had, obviously, gave us assurance that once we get a couple of wickets, it will crumble pretty quickly because there wasn't much intent from the batsmen.

On his batting...

(Kohli continued his fine form with a big hundred and an 80-odd in the Test)

On that kind of wicket, that was the plan - to have intent. It is only if you have intent that you can defend the ball properly because you are looking to play with the bat. If you don't have intent, and you are looking to control the ball, and if it does something, then you are in no position to control it. So the edges fly off and you are not in position. If you are looking for runs, you defend better as well because your head is on the ball as well. So that was the whole idea, once the pitch gets tougher to bat on, show intent and keep getting runs in between, extend the lead so the opposition feels the pressure of those 30-40 runs. It is a pretty basic thing to do, to be honest, and if you don't have intent in the fourth innings, it is tough to play out four and a half sessions.

On India's fast bowlers doing well...

(Although they do not have much to show for their efforts, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav picked key wickets to keep getting India back on top)

Yes, definitely that's why we play five bowlers, we don't play only spinners, we play fast bowlers as well, because we understand their contribution is also important. Those few important wickets in between. Today, Shami got two. Umesh gave us the important breakthrough in the first innings. Even in the first Test, they bowled really well. It's great to have them bowl in short bursts... you know, bowl with pace rather than expect them to bowl long spells in the heat and not use them wisely.

So having quality spinners obviously helps the fast bowlers to stay fresh and come in for those quick spell of for 3-4 overs and try to create opportunities to take a wicket. It has to be done in a partnership and I think they are combining really well - all the spinners and fast bowlers. It's really good for the team. I hope they can continue to do their job. The good thing is that they are not getting desperate to pick up four and five wickets, they understand they need to come in and give us those breakthroughs and they are pretty happy to play the role. I think that's the most important thing.

Your role as a batsman, combined with as a skipper...

(As a captain, Kohli has been at the top of his game, scoring at an average of nearly 60. The team, too, has done fabulously well, winning 11 and losing only two Tests in the 19 he's captained)

It's a difficult thing to detach yourself from being captain when you go out there to bat, especially when you are playing five batters. The responsibility obviously increases much more. But it also makes me not hit the ball in the air which I probably prefer in Test cricket. Honestly, I don't feel the need to do that because I believe in my abilities to play on the ground and still score at a healthy rate. So I don't need to try any fancy things plus I also feel the more you stay on the wicket, the more time you spend, things start getting easier. That's the whole plan to actually go out there and see what's happening, understand the bowlers, not necessarily have your plans of attacking bowlers but to understand how the situation is playing out. Stay calm on the wicket, try to spend as much time as possible.

Instinctive players obviously get runs when they spend time on the wicket. I think I am one of them, so I like to go out there and play a session or two sessions, that's my target. I never think of runs. As a goal. Obviously, I want to score but I don't think of these many runs in a session. So spending time is something that I aim for in Test cricket other than that in other formats, it's relatively easy on the mind to prepare, because you are only thinking about batting, obviously you have to give inputs on the field but it's not necessary that you have to take those decisions, you can give suggestions.

To keep a check on each and every thing and then to think about on your batting as well, it does take a toll on you. But right now, I am pretty fine. Maybe in three four years time, I can analyse how much load I am feeling but at the moment, it's coming along nicely so I am pretty OK with it.

England's turnaround last time they toured and similar situation this time...

(England managed to overturn a 0-1 deficit to claim a historic 2-1 series win the last time they toured India for a Test series)

We know the ability that they have but we are not thinking about the past. We are not the side which thinks what happened the last time they came or the last time we went there. You are already not in the game as soon as you start thinking like that. We believe in our abilities more than we analyse the opposition. It's been our strength over the last 12-14 months and we continue to do that. It was a fighting draw in Rajkot. To come out and have a victory straight away shows the character this team possesses and the fact that we don't focus on too many things from the outside. The focus has been on strengthening our qualities and understanding things that we need to work on and that's all we want to do. Keep improving as a side, not think about the past or future.

On the thinking behind not enforcing the Follow on...

(India claimed a lead of exactly 200 and had the chance to enforce the follow on, Kohli, however, asked his team to bat again and set England a target)

Depends how many runs you have. If you are 350 ahead or something like that and the wicket is turning square, then you put them in, but if it's 200 ahead and the wicket has not broken down too much (you prefer batting again). I think end of day 4 and today was literally the time it spun and it did a lot more than the first three and a half days. So you analyse those things. If the you're playing on a wicket that is turning a lot, definitely we would have enforced follow on with a lead of 250-plus.

But in this case we needed those 100 or 200 runs more to put the opposition back in again because they have to play for survival. Even if they have to go for the target, they know they cannot afford to make mistakes. It's a pretty easy call to take seeing the number of runs you are ahead by. This time around, we couldn't have enforced the follow on because it was only 200 and the wicket according to me was not doing enough to get them all out for under 200. Once you have a big score, as I said, the scoreboard pressure is different then you could have put more pressure on the opposition than you could have with a 200-run follow on.

On Mohammed Shami...

(Although Shami returned with only three wickets for the match, his impact was massive)

Well he's obviously very skilled. He's a gifted bowler we know that. He's become fitter. The spell that him and Umesh bowled yesterday with the new ball, both bowling 145-plus, was great to see. To be honest, our bowlers got more off the pitch than their fast bowlers and that was something really pleasing to see as far as me being a captain is concerned.

Shami, his bowling is much more skiddy than Umesh's. So he gets that extra zip off the pitch and he has good control over reverse swing. So that makes him dangerous in between when he comes for short spells because he can give those breakthroughs and the opposition also doesn't really go after him that much. So he's a great bowler to have in the side just to get those crucial breakthroughs for the spinners to capitalise again.

Importance of Cook's wicket late on the fourth day...

(Cook had batted 187 balls for 54 runs before being dismissed of what turned out to be the last ball of day 4)

Well again, a test of our patience. We knew that they are going to try and annoy us by playing like this and hope that we lose our cool, bowl with different plans and do too many things, which we did not. We maintained a similar field throughout. It's just that in the last over, the suggestion came from Pujara that we could try probably a different field, have two more on the legside and make him really defend well in the last six balls. Put a bit of doubt in his head, and it worked. He tried to play in front of his pad, not close to the body. That's it, I mean little margins can give you the game. I think that was a crucial breakthrough we needed. And end of day's play as well so the new batter did not get to face any more deliveries. He knew first thing in the morning, four more balls to go in the over and he's straightaway under pressure as a batsman. I know that for a fact. Pretty crucial dismissal that for us and it really set the tone for us today morning.