The five-match Test series between England and India is evenly poised at 1-1 after three matches. India’s middle-order has collapsed in most of the innings and a lot of that has to do with captain Kohli’s inability to score big runs.
The England pacers have managed to keep Kohli at bay as the batsman has scored only 124 runs in 5 innings with only one half-century. He has repeatedly got out trying to poke at balls outside off-stump.
England captain Joe Root credited his bowlers who have managed to keep the dangerous Indian batsman quiet in the series. He added that this had to continue for England to win the series.
"The credit needs to go to our bowling attack, Virat is a world-class player hence the credit needs to be given to the bowling group. We have been able to keep him quiet, it is an extremely good effort from our bowling group and it is something we have to continue if we have to win this series.
We have found ways to get him out, he is a fine player and has done tremendous things in Test cricket, we will have to look at ways to get the best players out," Joe Root said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
"Absolutely, world-class side like India led by Virat Kohli, I expect nothing less than a response. We would be naive to think otherwise, it is important that we do not get to deluded. We have gotten to the level playing field, we have to work harder now. If we find ourselves ahead of the game at any stage, we have to consolidate," he added.
England picked wickets regularly in the morning of the fourth day at Headingley, Leeds. India slumped from 215/2 to 278 all out to hand England a massive win of innings and 76 runs.
"I think it was a brilliant performance, nice template for us to work with really. The challenge is to replicate it and go one better. From a bowling perspective, I think we were flawless, we hit the right lengths early on and we managed to do it for long periods of time. With bat in hand, Headingley was our best outing till now, and hopefully, we can go on," said Root.
"I think more than anything, we are very pleased with how we have sort of grown into this series. We have worked extremely hard to make the series 1-1, now is where the hard work really starts. We will look to go again and keep getting better," he added.
Root added that the team had learnt from the mistakes they did at Lord’s and hence won the third Test.
"You are always learning, I always look to learn and grow as a captain. But as a team, one thing we took away from the Lord's Test was that we have to be the best version of ourselves and we do things our way. We do not get sucked into playing someone else's game and we go about things in our manner. We did that in Headingley and it is important we implement that in the series," he added.
(With ANI inputs)
