India vs England: ‘We started to see the real Virat’, Mark Butcher highlights ‘little adjustments’ made by Kohli

Kohli stitched a crucial 96-run stand with Ravichandran Ashwin for the seventh wicket before getting trapped in the front by Moeen Ali.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli played a fine 62-run knock to steady the Indian innings after the hosts lost five wickets in the morning session on the third day of the second Test against England in Chennai. After perishing for a duck in the first innings, the Indian skipper looked pretty much comfortable while facing the English spinners on Monday.

India's skipper Virat Kohli plays a shot during the 3rd day of the 2nd test match against England at MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai on Monday (BCCI/Twitter)

Kohli went on to stitch a crucial 96-run stand with Ravichandran Ashwin for the seventh wicket before getting trapped in front by Moeen Ali.

After the end of third day’s play, former England cricketer Mark Butcher highlighted the ‘little adjustments’ Kohli made in his batting to put India in a strong position against England in the second innings.

“I think he [Kohli] made a little adjustment playing against the off-spinner. In the first two Test matches, he looked to play too leg side of the ball in terms of his guards. He has been on the front foot, defending the offie towards extra cover. In this innings, he was defending a lot more towards mid-off so he was getting a lot more of the face of the bat on the ball,” Butcher told Star Sports.

“We started to see the real Virat. The on-drive was a piece of perfection, the footwork was very very sharp. He just looked in total control.

“Interesting thing for me, Virat has been practising a lot of sweep shots, I’ve seen some of the video clips and looking at the Chepauk nets. He’s obviously thinking about introducing it to his game and the same way Ashwin has done and Rohit has played it with such success in the Test match.

“So, I was more than happy with his little adjustments, with his defence and the trust and together he plays in that sort of free and orthodox style that we now of Virat Kohli,” he added.

Ashwin's fifth Test hundred (106 off 148 balls) along with Virat Kohli's 62 off 149 balls got India to a more than decent 286 in 85.5 overs, leaving England with an improbable target of 482 runs on a dust bowl.

At stumps, England were already crumbling at 53 for 3 and it would take nothing short of a miracle for England to bat for two days and save the match.