Why Virat Kohli’s India were desperate to silence England in Mohali Test

Virat Kohli said India were determined to dominate the Mohali Test after the England camp’s exuberant celebrations on winning the toss. India won the game by eight wickets with a day to spare on Tuesday, taking a 2-0 lead with two matches left.

The England camp’s exuberant celebrations after skipper Alastair Cook won the toss was added incentive for India to tame their opposition, skipper Virat Kohli said on Tuesday after an eight-wicket victory in the third Test in Mohali to take a 2-0 lead with two games to go. (scorecard).

India skipper Virat Kohli silences the rather vocal England cricket fans after the eight-wicket win over the visitors with over a day to spare in the third Test at Mohali on Tuesday, which gave the hosts a 2-0 lead with matches left in Mumbai and Chennai.(PTI)

Looking at how India ran away with the game after winning the toss in the second Test in Visakhapatnam, and how England held sway in the first match after getting the chance to bat first, skipper Alastair Cook’s men were over the moon when he called correctly at the toss. (highlights).

The coin falling in their favour seemed to have been greeted by a spontaneous cheer in the visitors’ camp and Kohli didn’t forget to rub it in after winning the third Test.

“I was surprised by the cheer that went up. There were still five days of the game to be played. We were motivated to show that ours is a team which can take the equation (of toss) out of the game,” Kohli said after guiding his team to a commanding win at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.

Highlights

England have won the toss in two of the three Tests.

It’s the first time India’s No 7 (Ravichandran Ashwin), No 8 (Ravindra Jadeja) and No 9 (Jayant Yadav) scored fifties in a Test innings.

Spinners Ashwin, Jadeja and Jayant shared 12 wickets in the Mohali Test.

THREE OUT OF FOUR

It was India’s third win over England in four matches at the venue, the other game having ended in a draw following poor weather.

For once, it was the contribution from the lower order that proved the difference for India. Led by fine performances with the bat by R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav, India took an invaluable 134-run lead.

All three got half-centuries in the first innings with Jadeja walking away with the Man-of-the-Match award for his fighting 90 and four wickets.

England, after scoring 283, had reduced India to 204 for six before the three spin-bowling all-rounders put up a rearguard action to take the total to 417.

“When your last five add 280 runs (they added 251), it puts the opposition on the backfoot. That really put pressure on them (England). Our No 7, 8 and 9 all got fifties and that’s a big achievement. Ashwin is the No 1 all-rounder in the world, Jadeja is in the top 10 but Jayant Yadav has been a revelation for the team,” said Kohli.

Jadeja added: “I was looking to play 40 to 50 balls (at the start) and take it from there. I knew I could get runs later on.” He faced 170 balls in his four-hour knock.

It was Jadeja’s highest score, though he was a bit disappointed at not converting it into a hundred, holing out to leg-spinner Adil Rashid. “I had decided I would not take a chance against their off-spinners and was confident against the leg-spinner. But, the ball came a bit slow and didn’t hit the middle of the bat.”