In sports, as in life, it is important to keep an eye on the future while not losing sight of the present. That’s the exact aim with which Virat Kohli has gone into the India-Sri Lanka ODI series.
Leading the team in the series, Virat has divided his thought process into short and long-term vision, while not letting either of the goal suffer. He keeps talking about the World Cup preparations and combinations but the immediate goal of winning the series has not been lost to him.
Ahead of the second match of the series, in Ahmedabad, India’s stand-in captain analysed the team’s batting and bowling keeping in view the current series and the next few crucial months to follow.
Reasoning the decision to send Suresh Raina at No. 3 in the first ODI in Cuttack ahead of himself, Virat said he wants all players to have good performances under their belts at various positions in order to increase their confidence.
“The batting has come together very nicely in the last year and a half. It has been a gradual process and the guys are now comfortable batting at their usual spots,” Virat said. “The whole idea of this series is to try different people at different positions and see how they react to those situations, and at the same time not neglecting the fact that we have to win the games.”
Another different thing that Virat tried in Cuttack was to take the batting powerplay early – in the 23rd over. It surprised the opposition and got India to 363. When asked about the ploy, he said it was instinct based on sound reason.
“We play a sport that keeps going on; there is no break. So, if I feel instinctively that something needs to be done, I’d rather do it than wonder later on why I didn’t,” he said. “It’s better to try something, make a mistake and learn from it rather than not trying anything at all. I instinctively decided to take the powerplay early knowing they had just put on their part-time bowler.
“Another reason was that both our batsmen were close to their personal milestones of fifty. Especially in a young side, the batsmen tend to slow down when approaching a milestone and that is understandable because in the initial part of your career you want to make each innings count.
“If in such a situation they are given the license and the confidence to attack in form of a powerplay, they will stop thinking about the personal milestone and the team’s motive will come into play. That’s what we tried to do without telling them what we were doing. It worked out really well in the end,” Virat said.
Moving on to India’s bowling, Virat said he was convinced the current pack of pace bowlers would make a formidable attack in Australia.
“I’ve been very impressed with Umesh (Yadav) since he has come back. He is bowling quick and has become more consistent. He is hitting the areas at a good pace and that’s troubling the batsmen on flat wickets. He’s working on his death bowling as well.
“Ishant (Sharma) has been playing Test cricket for a while and so he knows what needs to be done and when. He will have his ups and downs – with him it’s all about believing in him that he will deliver for us. Ishant can push himself to 140 when he feels his body is strong enough to do that continuously for seven-eight overs.
“Varun’s (Aaron) pace is a great advantage – someone bowling at 150 always is and hopefully he will recover soon from his leg injury.
“Then we have Dhawal (Kulkarni) who we cannot expect to bowl the speeds of 140 but is very consistent. His consistency has got him to this level and so I wouldn’t expect anything different from him.
“All in all, we have (Mohammad) Shami, Umesh, Varun and Ishant who can bowl quick and someone like Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) who swings it both ways. So, things do look very good on the fast bowling front going into the World Cup 2015. I want them to go to Australia with a lot of confidence.”
Turning to the spin department, Virat said he had high hopes from Axar Patel.
“We are looking to give more chances to Axar because we believe he is a very confident guy and has the right temperament to deliver in specific situations,” Virat said. “It’s just about keeping him confident and letting him know that he is in the scheme of things for the ODIs. He is a very big-hearted bowler; doesn’t lose his confidence and remains consistent. It’s great to see him do well and we will back him throughout.”
By: BCCI
