‘It made me realise what I need to improve in my game so I am pretty thankful to England for that. I have been a really improved cricketer from then on. I just take it as a setback in my career’

Virat Kohli is aware of his rather modest batting record against England but the India captain is not putting himself under any pressure against them in the five-Test series, beginning in Rajkot today.
 Considered one of the premier batsmen of his generation, Kohli averages close to 46 with the bat but it drops drastically to just 20 from 17 innings against the English bowlers.
 In the five-Test series in England in 2014, he managed only 134 runs at an average of 13.4 with a highest score of 39. Of his 13 Test centuries, only one came against England at Nagpur in 2012.
 “I can put it very simply as that was the phase when I didn’t perform too well and it happened to be England and could have been any other country in the world,” Kohli told reporters in Rajkot yesterday.
 “It made me realise what I need to improve in my game so I am pretty thankful to England for that. I have been a really improved cricketer from then on.
 “I just take it as a setback in my career, and not motivate myself in a way that I have to prove people wrong or I have to do something special against a particular opposition.”
 The right-hander’s form in the five Tests would be crucial for the hosts if they are to improve their record against England, who have won their last three series against India.
 The last time England toured India in 2012, Cook’s side suffered a thumping loss in the opening Test at Ahmedabad but then turned the tables on the hosts to win the four-match series 2-1.
 Since then, India have not lost a Test at home, blanking Australia and West Indies, crushing South Africa and whitewashing New Zealand in September.
 In contrast, England are still smarting from their loss in the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka where they shared the two-Test series 1-1 with the Test minnows.
It prompted Cook to label his side as ‘underdogs’ against India, currently the top Test team.
 “I think some team might want to play it down at the start of the series and then surprise the opponent but we are quite aware of those things,” Kohli said.
“At the same time we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves. We understand what we need to do, so we are not going to get swayed away or carried away by the praise or adulation.”
 The Indian Test captain is in the form of his life after hitting two double centuries in the last six months.
Kohli was not the only Indian to struggle in England, with the team’s main spin bowler Ravichandran Ashwin taking just three wickets. But he is expected to be a different proposition back home.
 “What’s in the past we can’t go back and change. We look forward to what we can do in the future, that is to play good cricket and express our skills to the best of our potential and play as a team,” said Kohli. “As a team we treat every day as a new day, we treat every opposition the same way.”
 Kohli also said his team should have no problem adapting to the umpire decision review system (DRS) which India are using for the first time in a home series. While the other nine Test teams have been using DRS for years, the world’s number one Test side had resisted the technology over doubts about its reliability, sparked by a frustrating trial run in 2008.
 After technological upgrades to the system, India have now agreed to use DRS for the England series. “Well, there is no rocket science on DRS,” Kohli said. “As a cricketer you have a fair idea of whether the ball has hit the pad, whether it has pitched in line or hit in line. I think we have observed enough watching on TV how DRS is used... it’s pretty simple. It’s nothing that we are focusing too much on.”
 Compared to India, England are well versed with the technology, particularly after 42 decisions were reviewed during their two-Test series last month against Bangladesh.