Kohli savours the 'sweetest' success

Virat Kohli has called the series win over England the "sweetest" of India's recent Test successes. It was their fifth series win in a row but their first in four attempts against England with their previous series victory back in 2008.

They wrapped up victory in eight overs on the final morning in Mumbai - their 17th unbeaten Test in a row, which equalled their best run - as R Ashwin took the remaining four wickets to finish with 12 in the match. However, it was Kohli who was named Man of the Match for his career-best 235 which helped India come from behind and claim a lead of 231.

"This series win is probably the sweetest of all we've won in the past 14-15 months," Kohli said in the post-match presentation. "It couldn't get any better, in the Wankhede you win 3-0 against a top quality side that has beaten us convincingly. It feels really good."

Anil Kumble, India's coach, praised his team's ability to win from difficult situations citing the three lost tosses they have responded to and the middle-order wobbles that the lower order have helped rescue. He was reluctant to compare this India team with others in history, but said the current side was "special."

"You can't really compare different eras or different teams," he said. "But this team, certainly, is the No. 1 team in the world today and it has the potential to become the best ever Test team in terms of results. The team was exceptional in terms of the intensity shown on the field, in terms of situational awareness and coming out from difficult situations in this series and even against New Zealand as well. Everyone has contributed to the team's success and that's the beauty about this team. I don't really like to compare, but this team is certainly special and I'm really privileged to be part of this set up as well."

Kohli revealed he had a few nerves when England had posted 400 having won the toss, but was confident that they could take control of the game and exploit the fact that England had only selected two frontline spinners alongside four quicks - something Alastair Cook admitted had been a mistake.

"I was pretty focussed on this game," Kohli said. "We were 2-0 up with a chance to seal the series so we can go to Chennai and express ourselves. The plan was to get stuck in, I got away immediately and sometimes that happens that you get boundaries and the nerves calm down. I wouldn't say I wasn't nervous, I indeed was especially when there was 400 on the board. After we had that bit of a collapse I buckled down again, not getting satisfied, I knew I had to score many more for us to be in a commanding position.

"I felt the advantage we had was that England had a spinner less and those two guys [Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid] really got tired by the end of it after 50-plus overs. We knew bad balls would come our way. If you don't bowl your fast bowlers on a regular basis on pitches like these they lose confidence and when they come on they are thinking of stopping runs instead of taking wickets. That's something we sensed and went after them hard."

Pressed further on the difference between the teams, Kohli provided some detailed thoughts on the different mindsets of the two batting sides. England have often spoken about an aggressive outlook, but Kohli felt that was because they did not have the belief in their defensive capabilities in Indian conditions.

"It's about the application," he said. "Their batsmen have hardly blocked six balls in a row and we've worked on our defence. It's very important playing in India, if you don't have a good defence in India it's very difficult to counter the type of bowling we have. We sensed they don't have enough faith in the way they went about their business, even the second innings here was a lot of shots and we knew it was just a matter of time that we'd get a couple of wickets and it would crumble. They aren't sure about taking the innings long. As soon as we plugged the boundaries they had no way out because our bowlers are very consistent. We've worked on our defence and thrive on it. We enjoy thinking of it."