Not looking to survive in game, we are here to win: Virat Kohli after Oval win

Chasing 368 for victory, England were all out for 210. For India, Umesh Yadav claimed 3/60, while spinner Ravindra Jadeja and seamers Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur took two wickets apiece.

India beat England by 157 runs in the fourth test at The Oval on Monday to go 2-1 up in the five-match series.

Chasing 368 for victory, England were all out for 210 with Haseeb Hameed (63) and Rory Burns (50) hitting half-centuries. For India, Umesh Yadav claimed 3/60, while spinner Ravindra Jadeja and seamers Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur took two wickets apiece.

The match was effectively over when Shardul Thakur dismissed England captain Joe Root for 36 with an innocuous delivery which the in-form batsman dragged on to his stumps. Jadeja kept bowling into the rough to trouble the batsmen, claiming the wickets of Hameed and England vice-captain Moeen Ali.

Praising the character of the current Indian team, skipper Virat Kohli said, “Well, I think the best thing about both the games has been the character the team has shown. We are not looking to survive in this game, we are here to win.”

“Really proud of the character the team has shown. I said at Lord’s as well, I am proud of the character among the top three bowling performances I have witnessed as India captain. It’s quite relative to what you call a flat. The conditions were hot and we knew were in with an opportunity when Jadeja was bowling into the rough. The bowlers were good with the reverse swing today. We believed we could get all 10 wickets, we had the belief.”

“As soon as the ball started reversing, Bumrah said give me the ball. He bowled that spell and swung the game in our favour with those two huge wickets. I think you pointed his performance. Rohit’s innings was fantastic. What Shardul has done in this game stands out. His two fifties deflated the opposition. I think he batted well in both innings. We never go towards analysis, statistics and numbers. We know what we need to focus on and we take a collective decision as a group.”

Player of the Match Rohit Sharma, expressed satisfaction over his knock and said, “I wanted to be on the field as much as I could. That hundred was special. We know how important was the second innings. Virat just mentioned the effort from the batsmen, and as a unit it was really important. It’s my first overseas hundred. Really glad that I could get the team into an important position. The three-figure mark wasn’t in my mind, we knew the pressure on the batting unit so we kept our heads down and batted the situation.”

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Meanwhile, England captain Joe Root said, “It’s frustrating, thought we’ll get something from the game today, we had an opportunity of winning a Test match. The opening partnership was outstanding, credit to India, they got the ball to reverse I thought Bumrah’s spell was the real turning point of the game.”

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The fifth and final test starts at Old Trafford in Manchester on Friday.

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