5 key players of the Indian cricket team, including captain Virat Kohli, spoke at length to the media in an open press conference. The Indian team will play 3 Tests in Sri Lanka under Kohli’s leadership. The Indians seemed to be excited about the challenge and spoke about their expectations from the Sri Lanka tour.
Off spinner R. Ashwin expressed his admiration for the Lankans and about how strong they always were in home condtions. Ashwin said “[Spinner] Yasir Shah picked wickets [in the Pakistan series] but the pitch was seaming and helping pacers. Sri Lanka will know their conditions, we have to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses… I love my batting. I look to contribute in every way I can. I’ll try and play my shots, which is the way I play.”
Rohit Sharma, who is expected to bat at no. 3 ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara, also expressed his optimism regarding the tour. He said, “When we started in South Africa in 2013, we knew it would be a challenge with all the big names retiring. But the way we responded through the season, we can say that we are ready to go forward. We cannot give any excuses that we’re still learning. We’ve had enough of experience at this level now as we played outside India. We showed positive intent, which is good for an upcoming team. All of us have played more than 10 Tests and we can’t give any excuses.”
Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan’s spot in the Indian Test team is in doubt because of competition from young rival K.L. Rahul, but he said that the competition for the opening slots was healthy: “Competition is a good thing. It’s nice to have competition for the opening spot. I take things positively. If I get the chance, I’ll try to do well. In today’s Test cricket, it has become an important thing to score fast. When you score fast, it helps the team. I don’t think much about failures, I have always been an aggressive batsman.”
Ajinkya Rahane, who has become the most dependable batsman in Kohli’s team, spoke about his plans against the Sri Lankan spinners: “We have to be aggressive against spin. When we bat, we have to worry about scoring runs, not about getting out. At the same time, we have to give credit to Sri Lanka spinners as well.”
Captain Virat Kohli, meanwhile, spoke about the importance of getting 20 wickets in every match and winning Test matches – for which he insisted that the Indian team would need to play with 5 bowlers, with at least some of them contributing with the bat as well. Kohli said, “That [playing with five bowlers] could be a big possibility. The idea is to take 20 wickets. 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.”
Kohli spoke about his main spin bowler Ashwin’s credentials as a batsman. He said, “We have people like Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harbhajan Singh, who are very handy with the bat. Ashwin averages about 40 in Test-match cricket. So, I don’t see any reason why he can’t be the allrounder for us. It is all about giving people goals and asking them to improve on certain aspects and provide that extra balance the team requires. I strongly feel that you have to play a stronger bowling side to win Test matches. And your batsmen have to take more responsibility, which is challenging but at the same time it is exciting.”
The competition for the opening slots is the other big selection issue Kohli will have to make, with Rahul, Shikhar and Murali Vijay all capable of playing for India. Kohli spoke about how tough his decision was to pick just two of the three, “We saw KL Rahul coming through Australia, batting really well. That was a time where Shikhar was not performing consistently. So, KL stepped in beautifully and now Shikhar has got runs again. Vijay has got runs for us consistently. So, it’s just a matter of shift in the balance.”
Speaking of the injury concerns related to Vijay, Kohli said, “I think he [Vijay] has been a guy who has been very solid for us at the top of the order. He has really improved his game in the last one, one-and-a-half years. He has given us solid starts everywhere we have played Test matches over the past 12 months. No, I don’t see any issues with Vijay’s fitness. As far as I know, Vijay is almost 100% straightaway and I am sure he will be match fit even before the warm-up game.”
Kohli was equally enthusiastic about giving Rohit Sharma a chance at no. 3. He said, “So, I think that was the whole idea. He has done well in Australia when he has batted at three. I think he needs to get more opportunity there. Once he settles there, he could be the catalyst in the middle order. He can keep the scoring rate going. He is so naturally gifted that once he gets in, he has got massive scores for Mumbai. We want to give him that game time and give him ample opportunity to get that big score and in quick time.”
Finally, he spoke about his experience of training under the watchful eyes of batting legend Rahul Dravid, the new coach of the India A side: “Sweeping is one aspect of the game I was always looking to improve upon. I played it a lot in Australia and I figured on turning wickets it is something you have to have as a batsman. He [Dravid] was helping me from the sidelines [during the A game], if he saw something that had to be corrected while playing that particular shot. That was indeed helpful, to have him closely monitor what I was trying to do.”
