Draw was never on my mind, so no regrets: Virat Kohli reflects on India's approach at Adelaide

Virat Kohli

India’s stand-in captain Virat Kohli has said that he has no regrets despite ending up on the losing side against Australia in the just-concluded first Test of the four-match series, as he believes that his team played with the right intent – which is to go for a win.

Chasing 364 to win on the final day, India, led by Murali Vijay (99) and the captain himself (141), gave themselves the best chance to win going into the tea-break with the scoreboard reading 205/2, before the wicket of Vijay as they resumed led to a dramatic collapse in the final session.

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli said: “You see one opening and the team capitalises, and that's what Australia did. I was trying to hit it (referring to the pull shot that got him out) much more in front of the square. But it was one of those mistakes I'll look back and say I could have done better. I was backing myself throughout the Test and hence no regrets.”

He added: “It was a great game of cricket. Proud of the boys, the kind of character they showed in tough situations it was a really good effort. Pretty pleased with the way we played, but Australia did better.

“Told the guys last night that whatever target it was we were going to chase it. I believed in my ability, Lyon bowled the ball in the right areas. If myself and Vijay had added about 40 runs there, the game would have been different.”

Enjoy playing the Australians

Lavishing praises on Australia for taking the field and playing the way they did after the Phillip Hughes incident, Kohli said that that passion and commitment is why he enjoys playing against them.

He said: "Have to play with passion and commitment and I would like to congratulate the whole Australia team and actually participating here after all that happened in the last 10 days.

"They play the same way I believe in and their win was commendable. If you’ve been chosen to play for your country, you have to play with passion. That’s why I like playing the Australians.”

In an interview after the match, when asked about the on-field spat between Varun Aaron and David Warner on Day 4, the 26-year-old said: “If I am playing peacemaker, you can imagine how the situation was. As a captain, I need to control things, which is why I stepped in.”

On his short captaincy stint, he said: “Enjoyed the captaincy although didn't sleep well in the last five days. If I am being honest, I probably have 12 grey hairs in my beard now, but I enjoyed captaincy.”

The only thing @imVkohli did better than his batting today was his post match interview with Ch9 #pureclass #respect

— Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) December 13, 2014