England vs India: Personal milestones ‘doesn’t matter in larger picture,’ says Virat Kohli

Indian captain Virat Kohli on Saturday said that personal milestones “doesn’t matter in the larger picture” after India’s 21-run defeat against England in the opening Test at Edgbaston.

“When the focus is on the larger picture, these things don’t matter,” he told a BBC Test Match Special when asked about his maiden Test century in England.

Kohli made a master-class 149 in the first innings and followed it with a half-century in the second innings nearly dragging an insipid India to victory. It, however, wasn’t to be and after falling short of partners, the Indian captain too got out trying to score quick runs.

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He admitted that as a breeding player, he would dream about playing in different countries and conditions but all that has changed ever since he was handed the Indian captaincy.

“Back in the day I used to think about playing in different conditions, different countries, but when you become captain it’s about taking your team across the line. You are able to bat longer than you would have done otherwise and the ability you have inside just unleashes because you’re not focused on your personal milestones,” said Kohli who remains the youngest Indian skipper to win an overseas Test-series.

None of the Indian batsmen could match Kohli’s brilliance and most of them perished failing to read the swing and movement of the ball. The highest score across both the innings other than Kohli came from Hardik Pandya who scored 31 in the second course and was the last man out.

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The Indian captain blamed the side’s batting for the narrow defeat and asked for more character from his top-six. He took examples of how the tail-enders stuck to the crease in both the innings and called his batsmen to learn from them.

“There is a lot to learn from the lower order in the first innings, Ishant and Umesh got stuck in the middle. Ishant showed character here, Umesh hung around with Hardik again.

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“There is no hiding from this game; we need to be positive, relentless and whatever the feelings are would come out now in no time. We need to take the negatives out and build on the positives as we go on,” he said.