Kohli all praise for England's all-round options

Both England and India have serious concerns with their top-order batting. But where Virat Kohli has anchored the Indian effort, with some backing from Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane and no big knocks from the rest of the line-up, England have found heroes lower down to cover up the wobbles at the top.

At Edgbaston, it was Sam Curran’s fifty from No.8; he did it again in the fourth Test at Ageas Bowl, following up his first-innings 78 with 46 in the second. Moeen Ali, their No.7 in the first innings, pitched in with 40, while they had Jos Buttler top-scoring with a valuable half-century in that spot in their next hit to set up the win. Not to forget Chris Woakes’ match-defining century from No.7 at Lord’s.

Speaking after India conceded the series on Sunday, 2 September, Kohli hailed the “fearless” cricket the hosts’ middle and lower-middle order played.

"It's quite handy to have guys who can strike the ball well in those positions because you literally have nothing to lose and once you get a partnership going, it can get frustrating for the opposition,” he said. “When the lower order gets runs, you don't likes seeing that.

“[England] have guys who are fearless down the order, they back their skills, they were braver in tough situations than us, they were more confident about what they wanted to do in tough situations, and that's why they won this Test match.

“Those contributions lower down the order have been significant as far as this Test goes and the one Birmingham as well.”

Kohli reserved special praise for Curran, who is averaging 50.2 in the series with the bat, as well as Ali, who was named Player of the Match.

“I would like to congratulate Sam Curran. He has been a nice find for England," said Kohli.

"Moeen bowled really well. He was relentless in the areas he bowled in and the speeds that he bowled at. He deserved to get those wickets," he added.

Joe Root, the England captain, acknowledged he was in a fortunate position. The all-round skills meant that apart from pace spearheads Stuart Broad and James Anderson, he could turn to Ben Stokes and Curran for more seam options, and Ali for a second spin option behind Adil Rashid.

"I felt like we had huge amounts of options," he said. "I had points of difference in our attack. We had the ball spinning both ways, we had some left-arm angle and three fantastic seam bowlers who all do very different things. I felt I always had something different to turn to."

Describing Ali's performance as the best he'd seen him bowl in an England shirt, he added, "Having some time away from the game can be a really good thing ... he's been in the form of his life with the bat and with the ball as well [for his county] and he's taken that into Test cricket. He's such a big part of this team."