Visakhapatnam: For Virat Kohli, his 50th Test has been memorable. Not only did his 167 and 81 earn him the Man of the Match award, it also helped India to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.

He, however, admitted that it was tough to separate the batsman from the captain.

"It's difficult to detach yourself from being captain when you go out there to bat, especially when you are playing five batters," Kohli said after the 246-run win over England.

"The responsibility obviously increases. But it also makes me not hit the ball in the air, which I probably prefer in Test cricket. I feel the more you stay at the wicket, the more time you spend, things start getting easier. Spending time is something that I aim for in Test cricket.

"In other formats, it's relatively easy on the mind to prepare, because you are only thinking about batting... Obviously, you have to give inputs on the field, but it's not necessary that you have to take those decisions, you have to give suggestions...

"To keep a check on everything and then to concentrate on your batting, it does take a toll on you, but right now I am pretty fine. Maybe in three-four years, I can analyse how much load I am feeling, but, at the moment, it's coming along nicely, so I am pretty okay with it," Mahendra Singh Dhoni's deputy in the limited overs formats said.

"About my batting, that was the plan, to have intent... It is only if you have intent that you will be able to play the ball accordingly, because you are looking to play with the bat. If you don't have intent and you are looking to control the ball, and if it does something, then you are in no position to control it.

"So the edges fly off if you are not in position. If you are looking for runs, you defend well because your head is on the ball as well. That was the idea, to get runs as the pitch gets tougher to bat on, show intent and keep getting runs in between, extend the lead so the opposition feels the heat of those 30-40 runs. It is a pretty basic thing to do, to be honest, and if you don't have intent in the fourth innings, it is tough to play out four-and-a-half sessions."

Kohli made it clear that the England batsmen lacked intent.

"As I said even after the last game, England is a side we do not take for granted... We understand that they have quality players who have played a lot of cricket. Their captain has over 100 Tests, so have another couple of players. You expect them to show that resilience and character and fight.

"It is a learning process for us as well to be patient and to fight. I think the way we bowled yesterday was magnificent. Not giving away at more than 1.5 per over, we thought they would come out with more intent, to be honest. And to see the approach that they had obviously gave us assurance that once we get a couple of wickets, it will crumble pretty quickly. There wasn't much intent from the batsmen."

England had come back from 0-1 down to win the series in 2012 and in England two years later. But Kohli doesn't see that happening again.

"We know the ability that they have, but we are not thinking about the past," Kohli said. "We are not the side which thinks what happened the last time they came or the last time we went there. You are already not in the game as soon as you start thinking like that. We believe in our abilities more than we analyse the opposition.

"It's been our strength over the last 12-14 months and we continue to do that. It was a fighting draw in Rajkot. To come out and have a victory straightaway shows the character this team possesses and the fact that we don't focus on too many things from the outside.

"The focus has been on strengthening our qualities and understanding things that we need to work on and that's all we want to do. Keep improving as a side, not think about the past or future."

Kohli agreed that the first innings was a massive factor in India on Indian pitches.

"The first innings is very important in India... In Rajkot too, the general feeling was that England played better cricket than us. But once you put a total on the board, if there is nothing in the wicket, even then you feel the pressure of big runs. We saw that in this match too as we had a total of 450-460. The batsmen know they cannot afford to make mistakes. I think the first innings is quite important, because afterwards, it gets difficult."

Kohli said Alastair Cook's dismissal was important at the end of the fourth day. "It was a test of our patience. We knew that they are going to try and annoy us by playing like that... We maintained a similar field throughout. In the last over, the suggestion came from Pujara that we could try probably a different field, have two more on the leg side and make him (Cook) really defend well in the last six balls.

"Put a bit of doubt in his head, and it worked. He tried to play in front of his pad, not close to the body. That's it, I mean little margins can give you the game. I think that was a crucial breakthrough we needed... Pretty crucial dismissal that for us and it really set the tone for us today morning."