JOIN USVirat Kohli lauded the way his bowlers maintained their focus despite the Sri Lankan batsmen putting up a dour resistance in the second innings, keeping India waiting for the series win till almost the end of the second session on the fourth day here on Sunday.
“You expect teams playing Test cricket to come out and play like that, with the ball and with the bat as well,” Kohli noted when asked Lankan resistance and how he kept the team focused. “Because of the way we got wickets in the first innings sometimes frustration can creep in when we don’t get wickets in a session. But you have to realise that those eight wickets we would have probably liked to get them throughout the day. If you spread it into three sessions, so it was all about keeping things realistic -- saying that we only wanted to keep things tight in the first session and see where the game goes, we ended up getting eight. So no point having expectations on those same lines and getting frustrated if you don’t get wickets,” he reasoned.
Kohli was particularly impressed with the way Lankan batsmen employed the sweep to keep Indian attack at bay though he said he wouldn’t fancy himself playing such high-risk shot. Kusal Mendis punished Ravindra Jadeja on the third afternoon and evening with that shot.
“Against the pace of (Ravindra) Jadeja, especially for the right-hander (Mendis) I think it was a high quality innings -- not even one sweep was mistimed or misconnected or in the air,” he pointed out. “So, we have to give credit to the batters there. The field was spread as well and still they were finding gaps and that’s what momentum can do. As I said, you have to keep things realistic and accept that these situations will also come again and again. It’s all about improving ourselves as players in those situations and not getting too frustrated. We tried our best, whatever we could but they were just too good yesterday for sure.”
After taking an unassailable 2-0 lead, India are on the verge of inflicting a first whitewash away from home in a series involving more than two Tests but Kohli refused to differentiate between home and away contests. “Well, it's obviously nice to win this series again,” he said. “We won this last time also. Yes, we do have that chance (of 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. If we can believe enough in our abilities then we are not really bothered about where we are playing. That kind of energy I can sense in the team, and the team believes that as well,” he offered.