Sharing his thoughts on the upcoming India-Sri Lanka series, Law said, “it is always a good series”.
Advertisement
“Virat Kohli and team will play a three-day warm up match in Colombo before the first Test in Galle”.
“We played some good cricket in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, so I am sure this unit will do well in Sri Lanka. That’s the challenge. Giving people goals and asking them to improve in certain aspects where the team requires”, Kohli told mediapersons at the pre-departure press conference ahead of three-Test series in Sri lanka. The Indian skipper also expressed his confidence in Ravichandran Ashwin’s batting abilities and said there is no reason why the off-spinner can’t be the all-rounder that the Indian team is looking for in longer version. In Bangladesh it was a one-odd Test match. He insists his lack of runs will not come in the way of his agg-ressive leadership.
“As a batsman, I have always been responsible with the way I play my game and it comes from wanting to win matches for my team every time I play”. “That’s that only way you win a Test match and I strongly believe we need to have the best bowlers playing in the squad”. “And I will continue to that till the time I play for my country”, he asserted.
Kohli said he always give 100% effort on the field and putting extra yards in batting is not required at the moment. When I played my first ODI series, we had no clue that we had not won there for 25 years but we ended up winning.
Rahane agreed with his teammate and said the next big challenge for India will be to come out victorious in Sri Lanka.
“We have had a decent break, I have had three weeks off. I have had lots of time off the game, which was required to get mentally fresh and now with a week of training going into this India A game and a week or two of training after that as well, I think it will be the best preparation for me as far as preparing for the Sri Lanka tour is concerned, so that was the whole idea”. India play three Tests in Sri Lanka from August 12 to September 1. “We are working, he is working and he is a very aware cricketer”. I think that is one of the major reasons that the board (BCCI) thought that I can be the one to take the responsibility. “We want to give him that game time and give him ample opportunity to get that big score and in quick time”.
Meanwhile, asked about his recent comment on his Test spot under doubt following a string of mediocre performances, the Mumbai batsman said he was misunderstood by the media. “Not just the spinners but the fast bowlers will also play a massive role in Sri Lanka“. “He has a lot of patience, is a very solid character and very sure of himself and of his game”, Kohli highlighted.
“If results follow or results go away it is good to create a bit of history but one just need to focus on the process as these things are far fetched may be after a month we will be able to analyse and sit down and talk about it. All our batsmen have good technique to play the spinners but it will be a challenge we can’t deny that”, he said.
“We have a lot of experience with the spin department”.
Advertisement
“R Ashwin has been great for us, and Harbhajan Singh coming back into the side has been great for us too”. Harbhajan has been a match-winner for India in Test matches and also in one-day cricket. Amit Mishra as well, I think he has been bowling really well for the past one year or so. He said his aggressive approach on the ground is not bad but would rally the team together. “It has been a spot that has been contested very strongly”, he said.
