England are coming off a loss against Bangladesh at home. It was a case wherein they were smothered by the Bangladesh spin attack and were found wanting. One would expect India to be no different in the Test series wherein the spin threats of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja would be looming large. New Zealand fell prey to it and only time will tell if the tale will continue in the forthcoming series. India captain Virat Kohli though didn’t want to weigh in much on England’s loss to Bangladesh. “I wouldn't say England struggled, they played really well in the first game. The second game, Bangladesh played better in their conditions,” Virat said. “We know England is a side that came to India last time and played well. We're not going to take anything for granted although we're playing some really good cricket. We want to focus on our strengths but you cannot ignore the opposition altogether. At the same time, you have to be confident in what you do as a team. That's something we've focused on and that's one reason why we've been able to get the results we have in the last 12-14 months.” Though England might be missing out on a few big names from the squad and might have a renewed look, Virat was of the opinion that England was a force to reckon with. A day earlier, England pacer Stuart Broad labeled themselves as underdogs, to which Virat reacted with a smile. “I don’t know if England calling themselves as underdogs means we are a strong team. I think some teams might want to play it low at the start of the series and then surprise the opponent, but we are quite aware of those things and we have experienced those sorts of tactics in the past.

“At the same time, we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves. We understand what we need to do, so we are not going to get swayed away or carried away by the praise, adulation or criticism as well. We want to keep improving as a side and keep winning games of cricket.” Though India have had a dismal record over the past against England with series losses at home and away, Virat didn’t want to read too much into it. “We don't think about those things. What's in the past, we can't go back and change it. We can only look forward to what we can do in the future, that's to play good cricket and express our skills to the best of our potential and play as a team. As a team, we treat every day as a new day, we treat every opposition the same, we treat every session on the field as an opportunity for us to perform as a team which the team has done thus far and will keep looking to do in the future also.” Also, Virat didn’t want to delve too much into his own personal record against England. Virat agreed it was a difficult phase in his career previously and it could have come against any opposition. “I can put it simply as a phase in my career when I didn’t perform very well. I just take it as a setback in my career, and not motivate myself in way that I have to prove people wrong or I have to do something special against a particularly opposition. For me I am playing cricket anywhere and any team in the world, those things will not make any difference to me.” Finally, as a thing of firsts, the Decision Review System is all set to make its debut this Test series. While there is a lot of talk about how the system will be implemented and various ways of putting it to use effectively, Virat was of the view that the system was simple and there was no need to complicate things. “There is no rocket science in DRS. As a cricketer, you have a fair idea of where the ball has hit the pad, whether it has pitched in line or hit in line. Those are pretty basic things in cricket. You don't have to necessarily go through a course for DRS. I think we have observed enough watching on TV how DRS is used. It really depends on what the bowler and a wicket-keeper most importantly think about the particular event or if a referral has to be made. It is pretty simple.”