On Sunday, India and South Africa will be locking horns with each other in the first T20I of the three-match series at Dharamsala, and during the press conference on the eve of the match, skipper Virat Kohli lauded his predecessor, MS Dhoni, saying ‘he always thinks about Indian cricket and nothing can replace his experience’. Dhoni is not a part of the Indian squad for the three-match series against South Africa.

Virat explained, “Experience is always going to matter whether you like it or not. Many players have proven in the past that age is just a number and even Dhoni has done that a lot in his career. One thing great about him is that he thinks for Indian cricket. When to stop playing cricket, is completely an individual decision. No one should give opinions regarding the matter.”

Kohli also got a pavilion named after him at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. In a star-studded felicitation ceremony, Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium was named after late finance minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley. The Indian skipper termed the gesture as unbelievable and he also said that it feels special. 

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Talking about the upcoming series, Virat said the team management is willing to give opportunities to youngsters, who are knocking on the doors with their consistent performances in the domestic circuit in the past two to three years. He also said that the team has the roadmap for the T20 World Cup in Australia next year.

Kohli explained, “We wanted to give opportunities to players who have done well for the past two years in the domestic circuit and T20 cricket in the IPL. It is about finding the best possible balance we can for the side and not necessarily stick to one particular type of balance. The first two to three T20I series will help us assess every situation. Definitely the roadmap for T20 World Cup in 2020 is on our mind. It is an exciting prospect looking at the new bunch of guys in our lineup.”

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The Men in Blue are coming off a winning run in the limited-overs cricketers as they outplayed Windies in both T20I and ODI series. India defeated Windies 3-0 in the T20Is whereas they the ODI series ended in the hosts losing the series by 2-0 with one game being washed out. Now, Team India will take on Proteas in three-match T20I series and three-match Test series.