India captain Virat Kohli opened up on his bond with head coach Ravi Shastri. He said his relationship with Shastri is based on mutual respect and trust which helped them make this team the one that 'everyone wants to beat'.

Team India are currently among the top quality sides and they have proven themselves in different conditions. Their record shows why this team is regarded as the most dominant Indian side, especially in Test cricket.

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“Our working relationship, and off the field as well, has been built on mutual respect and trust, on a vision that has been shared, which has been focussed in one direction which is to take Indian cricket higher and in a better place than we found it,” said Kohli before the fourth Test against England at the Oval.  

“That was always our aim and I think, along with the brilliance of the whole team, the talent that we have been blessed with, we have been able to achieve that. We stand as the team that everyone wants to beat anywhere we play in the world and that for us is a matter of immense pride,” he added.

Kohli was present at the Taj hotel with his teammates for the launch ceremony of a new exclusive members’ club ‘The Chambers’. The event was marked with a special ‘Rendezvous Series’ around the UK launch of Shastri’s debut as an author with ‘Stargazing: The Players In My Life’.

“It’s his first book and I hope he writes a few more because he has a lot more to share,” the India skipper said on Shastri's book.

India's head coach spoke about the ongoing five-match Test series against England. He said being on the same page with the captain helps the team to prosper. “When you have a captain on the same page, it becomes pretty easy and most of my boys are on a similar page,” said Shastri.

“The idea was to take the game forward and play to win. We’re not here to fill in the numbers, we’re here to play cricket that is positive and play to win. It’s been one spicy series, that’s the way it should be, and I just think it’ll be spicier over the next couple of weeks,” he added.

(With PTI Inputs)