India vs Eng 2nd Test: Virat Kohli not ready to ‘sit on laurels’ after Lord’s win

Indian skipper Virat Kohli (left) celebrates a dismissal with his team in England's second innings at Lord's. (Photo: PTI)

Indian captain Virat Kohli was ‘super proud’ of the team after visitors defeated England by 151 runs in the second Test at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Monday to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. At the start of the day, England looked like the favourites to win the match. But Bumrah and Shami showed class with the bat, and then an epic bowling performance sealed the deal for the visitors.

England battled hard, but their top order failures led to their downfall with the team being steamrolled for just 120 in the second innings. “Super proud of the whole team, the way we stuck to our plans, being put in, our performance with the bat was outstanding. Pitch didn’t offer much of the first three days. But the way we played in the second innings, under pressure, from Jasprit and Shami was outstanding,” Virat Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

“We thought with 60 overs to go we could have a crack, and they were outstanding. A bit of tension on the field really motivated us to finish the game. Wanted to let them know that we appreciated what they did, and they took the new ball and made breakthroughs for us. When we were most successful, our lower order was contributing, we went away from that a bit away from home but they are putting in the hard work with the coaches. The belief and the desire is there, to do the job for the team.”

Talking about the last time India won at Lord’s, Kohli said: “Last time was special, Ishant bowled outstandingly. But this one, to get a result in 60 overs, is quite special. With someone like Siraj playing at Lord’s for the first time and bowling as he did was outstanding. We decided 60 was our mark, crucial breakthroughs were great for us and we carried on from there. The second half of the day, we thought we were on top and our fans got behind us. We feed off the energy of the crowd as well.

“The best gift we can give to India, but we have three more Test matches and we can’t sit on our laurels. That one was gut feel but I like to go with my instinct,” Virat Kohli added.

Match stats

8 wickets for @mdsirajofficial
5 wickets for @ImIshant
3 wickets each for @Jaspritbumrah93 & @MdShami11 #TeamIndia pace battery in the second #ENGvIND Test at the @HomeOfCricket!

Scorecard https://t.co/KGM2YELLde pic.twitter.com/unKxXvfxcL — BCCI (@BCCI) August 16, 2021

Having lost 4 wickets in the second session, England’s score read 67/4 after 22 overs at the tea interval, still needing to bat 38 overs in the final session to save the match. Jos Buttler (25) did try to fight a battle after skipper Joe Root departed for 33, but it wasn’t to be.

Ollie Robinson (9 off 35 balls) did try to hang on with Buttler, but with Siraj sending back the dangerous English wicket-keeper batsman, it was all about keeping calm for the Indian bowlers and fielders.

(With ANI inputs)