Life has been rather good for Indian captain Virat Kohli over the last five days. As Kohli slammed a century on Monday, he went past Mohammad Azharuddin for being the Indian skipper with the most runs against the hosts in a series in England.
However, the greater pleasure came on Wednesday, when India crushed England by 203 runs. Virat Kohli registered his 22nd victory as India's captain and this has taken him past Sourav Ganguly as the second most successful Indian captain in India's Test history. Former captain MS Dhoni leads the pack with 27 wins in 60 matches and Kohli looks all set to go past this landmark sooner than later.
The 203-run margin win is also India's second-biggest win against England. The 279-run win at Headingley in 1986 and the 246-run victory in Visakhapatnam in November 2016 rank above this win.
Things looking cosy for India
The Trent Bridge win is the fifth time that the Indian side has won a match after being 2-0 down in the series and this could give the side a great boost ahead of the fourth Test.
"We definitely believe we can come back from 0-2 to 3-2, we just need to keep moving forward, keep winning. We wouldn't be 2-1 if we didn't believe. The respect and the belief in the change room is important, and one must keep wanting to win. We need to bring out the impact performances in the next two Tests as well," Kohli said after the win in the post-match conference.
The Indian bowlers were exemplary at Trent Bridge as the fast bowlers stepped up. This is their second-biggest haul as a fast bowling unit. Earlier this year, they picked up 20 wickets against South Africa at the Wanderers.
"The bowling group was ready to take 20 wickets again, and I'm glad the batsmen stepped up. So we, as batsmen, did well to give them a cushion for the bowlers to go hard," the chuffed skipper noted after the match.
England captain Joe Root did not put the blame on the openers and gave credit to the visitors for a disciplined show.
"We just have to give the credit to India. They left very well, and it was hard for the seamers to get wickets early on, so credit to India. We very much underperformed in the first innings," Root said after the match.
