Virat Kohli complains about Chepauk pitch and SG ball as India lose veneer of invincibility

NICK HOWSON: The skipper was unhappy with the pace of the surface and the ball they were forced to bowl with in defeat to England

India v England: 1st Test scorecard

PLAYER RATINGS: Joe Root and James Anderson dominate in Chennai as Shahbaz Nadeem has a Test to forget

India captain Virat Kohli has expressed his disappointment with the pitch and ball used for the first Test defeat to England in Chennai.

Joe Root's side completed victory by 227 runs before tea on day five to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

Victory for the tourists was underpinned by a first-innings 578, making the most of the best conditions to bat before taking 20 India wickets across 154 overs.

England's highest first innings score in India saw Joe Root (218) make his fifth double century, while Dom Sibley and Ben Stokes both made scores in the 80s.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who took nine wickets in the match, had described the newly-modified ball supplied by Sanspareils Greenlands as "bizarre". 

India continually attempted to get it changed as the seam split apart, and Kohli feels both the unresponsive pitch and quality of the ball made a major difference to the eventual outcome.

"The reality of the situation is that the pitch was very flat and slow," he said, as India slumped to a fourth defeat in a row under his captaincy despite his fifth day 72.

"I'm not saying that as an excuse and that we will hold onto as a team. But you have to understand the reality of what went on. 

"That was the case in the first two days. Even day three when the wicket really started to change. Before that it was a really flat and slow pitch. 

"When you get big runs on the board the opposition is inevitably put under pressure. 

"You have to understand those are the dynamics of cricket and how the game moves forward and works.

"The quality of ball too was not something we were very pleased to see. That has been an issue in the past as well. 

"The ball seemed to be destroyed in 60 overs and that is not something you experience as a Test side. That was the reality of the first two days. 

"It is not an excuse, England played better cricket than us and deserved to win."

^{India showed brief resistance but couldn't keep England at bay}

There is at least plenty of evidence to suggest India have the fortitude required, not least the quality, to turn the series around.

They recently won in Australia after losing the first Test in Adelaide - where they slumped to 36 all out, their lowest Test score.

And following India's last home Test defeat against the same opponent in Pune in February 2017, Kohli's men won two of the next three to claim a 2-1 series win.

"That was something that was said when Australia won the first Test as well in 2017," added Kohli, when asked if England now represented the greatest challenge to their nine-year run with a home Test series defeat.

"We don't jump the gun, we don't jump to conclusions too early. As a side, the focus is bouncing back in the next Test match and the series and something that we take a lot of pride in as a team. 

"What is said on the outside and what is being discussed has never bothered us. We want to do that moving forward as a team."

Images courtesy of BCCI

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