Dom Bess couldn’t have asked for a better start to his maiden tour of India. He got Virat Kohli as his first victim. Bess followed up the India captain’s wicket with the scalps of two of India’s most reliable batsmen in the traditional format — Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara — before dismissing the dangerous-looking Rishabh Pant to end the day with four wickets.

Kohli’s wicket is “certainly up there” for the off-spinner, although he didn’t try to bowl any “magic ball” to get the great man out.

“Of course I looked to get him out. But it was not about bowling that magical ball or whatever. It was more about smashing in 10 to 15 balls in a good area and that’s what I am really pleased about.

“I kept it in the spot and one ball went straight to Ollie Pope (at forward short leg),” Bess said in a virtual interaction after proceedings on Day III of the first Test in Chennai.

Bess, however, doesn’t want to get carried away after dismissing Kohli as all that matters to him at present is to keep following the process. “It’s all about the process for me. I’m 23 and maybe will keep going, but the journey will be up and down.

“The wicket (of Kohli) has given me a lot of confidence, but I don’t want to think much about it in the middle of the game as we still have a long way to go.”