In their quest to win an ODI series in the rainbow nation, India captain Virat Kohli wasn’t bothered much about the stats. They have won just 5 games in 27 matches against the Proteas in their home turf. Among other things that Kohli addressed about in the pre-series press conference was India’s No.4 debate. Excerpts from the interaction:
Talking about Ajinkya Rahane as a no.4 batsman, “(At No.4) other than him (Rahane) we have Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey. All options are open. Although the lower middle order is more or less sorted, the middle order is something we are still looking at. The combination is working well for us with Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni rotating and batting together.”
Also read: India's predicted XIHe further elaborated, “Guys who are given the opportunity need to capitalize and really string in performances that convince the management and the team very soon that that guy is meant to play at that spot for the team. Obviously, changes can happen at any stage. You don’t know whether someone is going to be in form or not or what the team requires at certain stages.”
When asked about the plans of Team India for the IC World Cup 2019, which will be played in England after around 15 months, Kohli replied, “We will play the World Cup in England, which will be very different to what we get in India. People who might be doing well at home might not necessarily repeat their performances in England. We will have to figure out which players’ game suits the team best in particular conditions that we play, at a particular spot.”
Kohli also talked about eth benefit of having two wrist spinners in the squad, he said, “We are one of the few teams, or probably the only team in world cricket, to be blessed with two wrist-spinners, while Kedar Jadhav is doing the conventional job pretty well for the team. Wrist-spinners can go for six an over but they will pick you three wickets as well, which is eventually the difference in the game.”
Speaking of India’s poor record in South Africa, Virat said, “We obviously want to win every series that we play. Thinking of records or doing something that hasn’t been done before is not something you think of before achieving it. But yes, we took a lot of confidence from that last Test. As batsmen obviously, everyone is looking forward to stepping up. We have to carry the same belief throughout this series.”
Virat concluded by asserting the fact that the team management is looking forward to having a perfect balance in the squad, he said, “We look at a guy who scored 40 when the team needed it the most. Compared to a guy who has scored runs but they might not have affected the state of the game that much. We look for game-changers, we look for guys who embrace pressure, we look for guys who want to be in difficult situations because in one-day cricket you don’t have another day to come back and do something extra. You have to make decisions there and then.”
