Catch the ball: Kohli tells team ahead of Vizag Test

But the hard separation was softened slightly by Cook’s score of 130 as he put on 180 runs with teenage-opener Haseeb Hameed (82) in second innings in Rajkot – a record opening stand for England in India.

The fielding lapses became infectious for India as their wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha dropped Ben Stokes two times in three overs on the second day. It looks like he is going be good enough to score a lot of runs for England.

Kohli would have hoped for more assistance for his spinners from the pitch at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, making its debut as a test centre, given England’s recent struggles on turning tracks in Bangladesh.

“Catch the ball – that’s all I can say to sum it up”, Kohli said.

“We would like to look England as a team, and not focus on one particular bowler or batsman. He bowled outstandingly well in that last game, so we have to sit down after training and make a decision”.

‘I think that was the main difference, rather than skill or pitch or toss (in Rajkot).

With Gautam Gambhir failing to give India confident starts, Virat Kohli and Co have sent out an SOS signal to KL Rahul. Opener Lokesh Rahul was added to the squad on Tuesday after proving his recovery from a hamstring injury sustained batting against New Zealand last month.

“Rahul is our number one opener along with Murali Vijay”. We want to be 100% sure that I’m fit when I come back. That was the whole idea behind it. You need to put your mind off and back on as soon as possible, and to play that one particular delivery.

“We wanted to set them a score that they couldn’t get so the only two chances of a result were us to win or them to draw and that can do amusing things on a fifth-day wicket”.

On the result: This is what Test cricket is about; the different circumstances you can play in.

India captain Virat Kohli has demanded better catching from his fielders after they let England off the hook on the opening morning of the drawn series opener in Rajkot.

The English batsmen, including youngsters like Haseeb Hameed, helped themselves to a huge total on a pitch that was a far cry from might have qualified as “home-advantageous”. The 31-year-old notched his 30th test hundred in Rajkot this past week as England fell just four wickets short of an unlikely victory. “I think they (the England spinners) bowled well, but I don’t think they outperformed us”. England batsmen performed better than India because they were on top of the Indian bowlers, be it the pacers or the spinners and never really allowed anyone to settle down.