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India skipper Virat Kohli said the batsmen, who gave a poor account of themselves in both innings, need to apply themselves better after losing to England by 31 runs in the first Test in Birmingham on Saturday.
Chasing 194 for victory in the second innings, India were skittled out for 162 with only Kohli managing 51. For England, medium pacer Ben Stokes was lethal, taking the important wickets of Kohli and Hardik Pandya (31) on the day.
In the first innings, replying to England's 287, India once again had Kohli to thank for his masterly 149 as they posted 274.
While none of the other batsmen could manage more than 26 in the first innings, Pandya scored 31 which was the second highest in the second dig for the visitors.
"Our shot selection could have been better. We definitely need to apply ourselves better with the bat, but England came back superbly and we need to take the positives and move forward," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Kohli stitched together a 35-run stand with Ishant for the ninth wicket to follow it up with a 57-run partnership with Umesh for the last wicket. In the second innings, Ishant and Umesh again tried their best to give company to Pandya who was dismissed in the end.
"A team like England doesn't let you do it everyday, they were relentless and they made us work very hard for our runs. It sets up the series nicely and gives us what we need to do going forward."
Asked about his magical 149 in the first innings where he single-handedly dragged India out of a hole, Kohli said it would have tasted sweeter had the side ended up on the winning side.
"One more partnership and we could have pulled this home. We need to think how to regroup and get back for the next match. Test cricket is my favourite format, there is nothing better than testing yourselves over five days against top quality oppositions and people watching it too should love watching it."
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