DRS no rocket science, says Kohli ahead of England series

With India all set to witness the application of the Decision Review System (DRS) for the first time in the upcoming five-match Test series against England, skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday said that the ball-tracking technology is not rocket science and that it just gives one a better opportunity to check the decision whenever required.

The BCCI had been reluctant to embrace the DRS, which has long been in play in countries like Australia and England, because of a lack of consistency in technology. The board, however, recently relented and decided to use the technology on trial basis in the England series.

"Well there is no rocket science in DRS. As a cricketer you understand, 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 by watching on the television as to how the DRS is used and it basically depends upon what the bowler and wicketkeeper most importantly think of that particular event. It is nothing that we are much focussing on It gives you a better opportunity to check on the decision that we feel is not right. I think that is pretty fair," Kohli said on the eve of the opening Test against England in Rajkot.

India have lost the last three Test series (2011 and 2014 in England and in 2012 series at home) to the current No. 4 Test-ranked side. So far, the two sides have locked horns 112 times in Test matches, out of which England have won 43, India 21 and the rest 48 have been draws.

While talking about England, the swashbuckling batsman said that although he pays little attention to the past defeats, he was well aware that the Alastair Cook-led team are the only visitors to have won a series in India in the last decade.

Kohli also downplayed the statements from Alastair Cook and fast bowler Stuart Broad that they are the underdogs in the series.

"We know England is a side that came to India last time and played well. We're not going to take anything for granted. All of them are playing really good cricket. We will focus on our strength. You cannot ignore the opposition all together. At the same time you have to be confident what you wanted to do as a team. It is about having right balance of not getting too over confident, but at the same time not giving too much importance to the oppositions as well.So we need to maintain the right balance which we have done so far," Kohli said.

"We don't think about those things. what happened 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 is to play good cricket and express our skills to the best of o0ur potential and play as a team," he added.

Reiterating that his side would try to build momentum from the very first match against England, the flamboyant captain said the focus is now on winning more Test matches rather than competing.

"It is been a while since we played five Tests. Advantages and disadvantages depend upon the momentum that you create from the first game. I think in a Test match series momentum is very important. And it gives the team an opportunity to set up a nice base for the whole series because it is very long and you play a lot of cricket. I think momentum will remain a key factor on which advantages and disadvantages will really depend.. The mindset is no longer to compete anymore. We need to win series, need to win Test matches. For that , we need to be at our A game all the time," Kohli said.

Ahead of the England series, Kohli also backed ' world-class bowler' Ravichandran Ashwin to display the similar kind of performance as he showed in the whitewashed three-match series against New Zealand. Ashwin notched up 27 wickets to run away with his fourth man-of-the-series award against the Kiwis.

"Ashwin is obviously a world class bowler, we all know that. He is in good momentum, he has been bowling really well, bowling in the right areas. I just hope that he has another good series for Team India," he said.

India will aim to, at least, draw the upcoming series against England in order to seal their number-one Test ranking at the end of the year.