It is a good time to be in the England cricket team camp. Not only did they clinch a thriller in the first Test match at Edgbaston but also did enough to create self-doubt in the minds of the Indian team. And now, England coach Trevor Bayliss wants to go ahead and mould plans to get rid of Virat Kohli, the one man who dominated with the bat in otherwise tough conditions.
"If Virat Kohli is not the best batsman (in the world), he's very close to it. The way he played the first and second innings was high-class stuff. If we can put pressure on the other batsmen in the Indian team, that's going to add to the pressure on him," Bayliss told reporters after the Edgbaston Test match.
On coping with the spinners
The Indian captain was a cut above the rest as he scored 200 runs in the Test match and scripted an epic 149 in the first innings, but could not quite drag his side across the victory line and Bayliss too accepted the fact.
Although the Indian batsmen struggled against the moving ball and fell to rather wayward strokes, the England coach believes that they will quickly adapt and adjust. He also sounded confident that his own side would also tackle the spinners better.
"India are a very good team. We're very much in the hunt here. When the ball's moving, we've shown that a few of their guys do struggle against the moving ball. I'm sure that they'll be going away working out how they can play it as we're going working on how to play the off-spin," the Australian added.
Ben Stokes, the man who changed the course of the match on the morning of the fourth day, had to miss out owing to the hearing in the affray charges and while this will have a bearing on the composition of the side, Bayliss is happy with the depth of the side.
"His (Stokes') preparation and approach was no different to what we've seen before. You wouldn't have known there was anything coming up. He's been absolutely golden. It will be interesting to see who can step up and take his place," Bayliss said.
The second Test begins on August 9 at Lord's and the visitors have all the running to do.
