Ahead of the team’s departure for Australia tour, Indian skipper Virat Kohli is optimistic with the team, while he also believes that there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

The Indian cricket team is now leaving for the Australian tour where they will play the three-match T20I series, four-match Test series and three-match ODI series from November 21. While Kohli is confident with the present bowling line-up, he is focusing on the batting performances as a team.

Kohli said on Thursday, “We are focused on how the batsmen can bat well together and not just individually. Bowlers are in a good space and after a long time we have an attack which is capable of picking 20 wickets.

“If we look at the England tour, apart from Lord’s, we didn’t get bundled out in a Test. We batted well in patches through the series. But when we don’t bat well as a team, we fall down and lose and mentally it takes a toll on you.”

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India had a tough Test tour in Australia in 2014/15, where they had lost the four-match Test series by the 2-0 margin. However, Kohli doesn’t want to focus on the past and believes to live in present.

The Indian captain said, “The idea is to always live in the present and not to focus on the past. We went through a difficult time in 2014 but we came out of that shell. It has happened with me in the past as well. We are always trying to stay in the present because we have the talent. These are just the little things that we need to solidify.”

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While South African cricket team has some good records in the recent Australian tour, Kohli believes his team can achieve that too due to having a good bowling unit. He is emphasizing on the batting performances in the upcoming Australia tour as he wants to put up complete performance on the grounds.

Kohli said on that, “From the last time we went there the fitness level is way up which I think is the most important factor in Australia. The ball doesn’t move too much and it can get boring sometimes, so it’s about patience and it’s about maintaining that pace at which you start. That’s why South Africa have done well there because Morkel and Kallis back in the days, now Rabada, these guys have relentlessly bowled in the right areas on those wickets.

“Our guys are capable enough to do similar kind of job but again I don’t want to focus too much on that because yes, we are feeling good about that we have a great bowling attack now but the batsmen need to step up as well. We want to put up complete performance and that should last till the end of the series, but for that to happen people will have to take more ownership. Our focus will be more on how our batsmen perform because our bowlers are in a great space. We feel like we can take 10 wickets every game but the combination will have to be there, not just for one game, but for the entire series.”

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Kohli claims that decision making is one of the crucial things in the tough occasions as it depends on the individuals and it widely leads to the game results.

He said, “I know from the management point of view, the things have been explained in a proper manner where people are told what needs to be done in the situation but if I am told that it’s a difficult situation and I need to find a way, no one can tell me every ball what shot I need to play. No one can tell me the decisions I make every ball. At that moment, the focus should be on what the team wants.

“If the individual are focused on what the team wants, they do something special in the tough time. When you win Test matches, you see that kind of performances. But it’s about remembering that, why we won that Test match, it’s about learning from victories. We need to get more consistent as a team. Visions will be provided but the decision making is an individual thing.”

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Kohli also asks for the lower-order contributions as he believes that it turned out to be the difference in their last away Test tour in England in this August-September, where India lost the five-match Test series by 4-1.

The 30-year-old in-form top-order batsman said, “At the top it can get difficult sometimes, it’s a bit easier for the middle order but the lower order contributions are crucial. We saw that in England, their lower order’s contributions were much higher than ours and that turned out to be the difference. We want out guys to be fearless. That’s the best place to bat, if they can get going they can change the whole course of the match or the series. That’s something that we need to tighten up after England.”

Despite the decent progress, Kohli said that there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Though Kohli believes that they didn’t make many wrong things, he also added that those were quite extreme to lead them to the defeat.

Kohli said, “Personally, I feel that we have made decent progress but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. We understand within the group that what we need to work on. There was a lot of things that we sat down and figured out after England, what went wrong. To be honest, there wasn’t much that went wrong in England but whatever wasn’t right, was quite extreme.

“We played good cricket but the mistakes were also very extreme and that’s why we lost that many games. We need to strike a decent balance when the situation is against us, how to control it better and how to find a way out of it rather than wanting to get out of it immediately. Those are little things that we need to work on.”

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Kohli feels that he has become more mature on the field to getting engaged in an argument.

Speaking on that, Kohli said, “When it comes to getting engaged in an argument on the field, I have been completely okay playing without an altercation. I have enough belief in my abilities.. those were very immature things I used to feed on when I was younger. We were always the ones giving it back. As long as it does not start, we will not go out looking for anything but we will reciprocate.”

Talking about the head coach Ravi Shastri, Kohli said that he is not a “yes man” rather than he said most no to him in Indian cricket.

The Indian captain said, “That is the most bizarre thing I have heard. In Indian cricket, I don’t think there is anyone else who has said no to me more than him honestly. He is one guy I can speak to and can get an honest opinion. I have made more changes to my game listening to him than anyone else in the past,”