England series win by far the best under my captaincy: Virat Kohli

Mumbai: Virat Kohli on Monday admitted that the Test series win over England was India’s best showing in Tests since he took over from MS Dhoni as India’s skipper in the longer format of the game.

“Out of the five that we’ve won, this is the best by far because of the quality of the opposition, and the kind of cricket that we’ve played as well. We’re very proud of that, and for me as a captain, this is definitely on top,” said Kohli, under whom India have won five Test series in a row.

Although India have already clinched the series, with a Test still to be played, Kohli made it clear that it was not an easy win as the scoreline suggests.

“No series win is easy, especially not this one, we know England is a quality test side and we knew that they will try to bounce back. We have been put under pressure many times. I would give my team a lot of credit for bouncing back from those tough situations. We have not got anything on the platter.

"We have had to work hard for it and it has been a result of constant pressure that we have forced the opposition to make mistakes. With the bat as well (we) have shown really good character to come back into the game, showing enough patience, more than the opposition, so I would credit my team than calling it an easy series,” said Kohli.

“Even in this game after being 2-0 down, they put 400 runs in the first innings. This (England team) is not a team that will throw in the towel. They will fight, and we saw another example of it. We were tested but we came out on top. This is what Test cricket is all about. If you are a champion team, you have to play like a champion team to win the series and that’s what we did,” Kohli continued.

“I think the pitches have been far more true than the New Zealand series, that is something that I observed immediately. All wickets have been good cricket wickets and we have had to play good cricket to win these three Tests, and none of the matches have been surrendered by the opposition.

"We have had to work hard for it and the bowlers have had to work harder in this series, I feel, to get batsmen out and to control the flow of runs as well,” added Kohli.

Before the series win over Alastair Cook-led England, India had outplayed South Africa and New Zealand at home.

“We have used more in-out fields in this series than we did in the New Zealand series. So, it is pretty evident that the wickets have been better. England have applied themselves more than what New Zealand did. I think New Zealand had lack of experience apart from just Kane (Williamson) and Ross (Taylor).

"The others were relatively new to these conditions. This is a side (England) that has got quality batsmen, they have been performing for a while now, very consistent. Even the bowlers understood that it will be hard and I am glad that they took up the challenge well,” Kohli concluded.