Virat Kohli heaped praise on the character showed by his team both at Lord’s and The Oval after India defeated England by 157 runs in the fourth Test on Monday to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

“Well, I think the best thing about both the Test matches has been the character our team has shown,” the captain said at the post-match presentation. “We are not looking to survive, we are here to win.”

For Kohli, this was among the best three bowling performances since he took over as India captain. “The field wasn’t wet like how it had been in the first three days, ball got scuffed up nicely with one side heavier and we exploited reverse swing perfectly.

“The conditions were hot and we knew we were in with an opportunity when (Ravindra) Jadeja was bowling into the rough,” he explained.

Jasprit Bumrah’s spell after lunch on the final day turned the game in India’s favour, and Kohli doffed his hat to the team’s premier bowler. “(Conceding) 27 runs off 22 overs on this kind of pitch... A huge effort. As soon as the ball started reversing, Bumrah said, ‘Give me the ball’,” the skipper said.

For Bumrah, it was all about creating pressure on the opposition on the Day V wicket. “It’s very important to create pressure. That was an important phase of the game, so I told the captain that we have to try and create pressure. That was our intention and we’re very happy as a lot of effort went into it,” the pacer, who also reached the milestone of 100 Test wickets in just 24 Tests, emphasised.

Kohli’s counterpart, Joe Root, was right in his analysis when he agreed that England started losing the plot when they failed to make use of good batting conditions on Day II, after bowling India out for 191 in the first innings.

“Where we could really stamp our authority on things was earlier in the game. I think we should have got a bigger lead the first time round. And then we would be looking at a very different game,” he said.