The Indian head coach Ravi Shastri feels that the team not only needs to compete in the matches they also need to complete the matches after Virat Kohli and his men suffered another close defeat at Southampton. India handed England an unassailable 3-1 lead on the silver platter when they failed to register a win in the 4th Test at The Ageas Bowl.

Talking to the reporters on Wednesday, Shastri said, “You’ve got to get tough, mentally. We’ve run teams close overseas, but now it’s not about competing, it’s about completing games. The endeavor is to learn, to understand where you made the mistakes, take it head on and try and correct it. The fact of the matter is that you had a chance. The scoreline says 3-1 which means India have lost the series. What the scoreline doesn’t say is India could have been 3-1 or the scoreline could have been 2-2. And my team knows it.”

Despite the fact that the Oval Test will be a dead rubber, the head coach reckons that the team is willing to give their best shot in the final Test. He revealed that the team is hurt and hence they are willing to compete in the best of their abilities rather than hinding heir faces.

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However, in order to become more productive, the Indin top-order needs to contribute more as apart from from the skipper, who amassed as many as 544 runs in the series so far, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are the only batsmen to cross the 200-run mark in the series.

Talking about the batting failures, Shastri said, “Well you need the top order to start and if you see, no team has got such starts. Shot selection left a lot to be desired. We blew away a very good position straight away after tea on day two [at Southampton]. That’s an area you can tighten. It’s about being aware of being in a good situation and then capitalizing, not doing something silly to open the door for the opposition. I thought at 180/4 (in 1st innings) there was a definite chance of a 75-80 run lead and that would have been crucial.”

Shastri added that the most important thing for the current Indian team has immense belief in their abilities as they already have achieved things that many others have not in the past.

Praising the team further, the coach said, “If you look at the last three years, we won nine matches overseas and three series. I can’t see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years who have had that kind of run in such a short time. And you’ve had some great players in those series. It’s just [about] being tougher mentally. You’ve got to hurt, to lose such matches because that’s when you look within and come out with the right kind of answer. One day you will, as long as you believe.”

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Shastri concluded by praising Cheteshwar Pujara for his brilliant effort in the first innings, he said, “Pujara’s was an absolutely khadoos (stubborn/strict) innings. You obviously need the top order to give you a start but if you look at both sides its not been easy for the top order. The bowling has been good, really good, and it’s been a challenge and it is how you overcome that challenge.”