We were unable to keep the pressure on England for long periods - Kohli

It could very well have been Ravi Shastri in disguise. Just like his coach, Virat Kohli chose to talk up India's overall competitiveness in the five match series rather than the damaging 1-4 scoreline.

India were up against a England side that was at its weakest in years. The openers were bereft of form, and the middle order was in shambles. Their bowling too, on paper, suggested that it relied much on the experienced pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Yet, India found a way to throw away three games that they could have won if they had been more clinical. India would be looking at the series as a great opportunity lost, but Kohli instead said the attitude the team played with gave him a lot of heart.

"Not hard at all because what matters to me is the kind of attitude you play cricket with," he answered when asked if the loss was hard on him. "We said at the end of the fourth game that we won't throw in the towel and we didn't.

"A lot of teams in the past basically have given up but we did not do so... look we don't think like people on the outside I have said before and again. And this kind of series shows you exactly the kind of character of individuals. I see that as an opportunity and not adversity because if you keep winning all the time a lot of faults are swept under the carpet, you don't realize the faults you need to work on and I certainly haven't played my cricket like that."

India's attitude is surely not under question. They have indeed competed hard, and have made England earn their victories. They have certainly shown, and again underlined with Tuesday's performance, that they will not throw in the towel even with the odds stacked against them. But India squandering chances to win definitely is under the scanner.

In Birmingham and Southampton, they let Sam Curran turn the tide when they had England neck-deep in trouble. At The Oval, Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad played that part. Even with the bat, they have seen themselves rise to great positions only to throw it away with bad shot selection and execution.

"We created pressure, we were not able to hold that pressure for long enough with the bat and the ball. At crucial stages, we could not keep that pressure on for long, and that is why they took advantage of those situations better than us. We understand why this series has gone the way it has, to be honest we don't see a massive-massive portion that we need to correct, because if you are competing in every game, and you have an upper hand in every game at some stage or the other, you are doing something right.

"They deserved to win because they played better than us, that is how we look at this series, we do not look at this series as something that makes us think we can't play in overseas conditions. Of course we can play, but can we capitalise on the important moments better than the opposition? At the moment, no, we haven't done that, but in future, we want to do that, and that is the only way we win series.

"Our aim is to win series, not to win the odd Test match and be happy about it, we are definitely not happy about the way the series has gone, but the way we played cricket is something that, not me, no one in the change room, no one doubts even one per cent, because we played with the right attitude and the will to win every game that we played."

Despite the loss, Kohli said he saw enough progress in the side that gives him confidence that they will do well during their next big away tour, to Australia later this year.

"The progress has been there. More importantly, we need to recognise when the situation is in our favour and how to solidify that situation even further, and make sure that the opposition cannot get back in to the game. We have given the advantage to the opposition rather than them brilliantly turning around a situation. And as I have mentioned in the past as well, we need to start series well, we can't warm-up in to a series because the first Test is always crucial, and we need to make sure we are in the right frame of mind to be able to do all the things right to strike first," he summed up.