Kohli heaps praise on batsmen after series success

Cricket365
August 6, 2017

India captain Virat Kohli has heaped praise on his batsmen following their Test series success in Sri Lanka on Sunday.

The visitors wrapped up the second Test in Colombo on the fourth day, winning by an innings and 53 runs, to take an unassailable two-nil lead with one match left in the three-match series.

Both India’s wins in the series was set up with a big first innings total, they scored exactly 600 in the first Test in Galle and then followed that up with 622/9 declared in the Colombo match.

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Kohli said after the game: “If you see, last nine test matches, six times we’ve got 600 runs. That shows the hunger of the batsmen, they are waiting for an opportunity, there are lower-order contributions as well… they feel great as a team.

“In the dressing room we feel really proud of each other’s efforts, that we’re really putting in those consistent, convincing performances, and winning test matches more often than getting the other results.”

It was India eighth consecutive series win under Kohli’s captaincy, and the skipper is pleased that they have built up a winning habit.

Kohli also said his team will be looking to improve their record away from home, and they have changed their mindset on playing abroad.

Kohli told reporters: “We really feel good as a team that we’re able to win consistently right now, but we realise that it’s very important to keep carrying on the same way as well.

“It’s obviously nice to win this series again. Yes, we do have that chance (of an away whitewash), but honestly speaking, we are not looking at test matches or test cricket now as home and away anymore.

“We are just looking at test matches as test matches and we want to win anywhere that we play. We are creating a habit of winning. That I think can be carried on in the future as well.

“Test cricket is the most important thing for us. And everyone plays with a lot of passion.”