Need to replicate our success at home in ‘alien’ conditions, says Virat Kohli

Their winning streak might have been halted on Thursday, but India captain Virat Kohli feels the current Indian team can become the greatest One-day International side in its history if it can replicate its success in overseas conditions, PTI reported.

Kohli’s statement after the former India captain Sunil Gavaskar’s recently commented that the current India side could end up being the greatest ODI side the nation has ever produced. “It is a decent compliment. Obviously coming from him [Gavaskar], it feels good because he has seen a lot of Indian teams over the past few years,” Kohli said after India lost by 21 to Australia in the fourth ODI at Bengaluru.

“[But] the journey is long because the team is young. We are playing at home right now. If we can replicate this form in conditions that are alien to us after that we can sit down and be happy with what we have done so far,” Kohli added.

Australia’s win snapped India’s winning streak of nine ODI matches. India lead the five-match series 3-1 with the final rubber to be played at Nagpur on Sunday. The defeat on Thursday was also India’s first ODI loss at the Chinnaswamy Stadium since 2003. “It is all about repeating those processes and try and do the same thing again and again and be consistent in giving the best shot,” the India captain added.

‘You have to try out others at some stage’

Kohli stood by the team management’s decision to give the reserves a go. India had replaced the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah with Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami, but the move backfired as Australia posted a stiff victory target of 335 after opting to bat. “We have won the series and you have to try out guys at some stage. You need to test your bench strength as well and you need to give those guys game time. I think Umesh bowled well, even Shami bowled well. Umesh picked up four wickets,” Kohli said.

Kohli said executing alternate plans remained key to his philosophy as captain, “I am not someone who sits and thinks maybe I shouldn’t have done this. You try, you go for something, if it doesn’t work make another plan and you go for it again. That is exactly what I think and what the whole squad thinks,” he said.

In-form Hardik Pandya (41) and Kedar Jadhav (67) shared 78 runs for the fourth wicket to keep India in the hunt during the chase. However, they were far from fluent as Australia’s pace trio applied the brakes on the scoring rate after the 31st over.

Kohli observed that the partnership was a learning curve for the big-hitting duo: “When Hardik and Kedar were batting we thought this was the ideal situation for them to understand how the game can be taken till the end. They really did a good job with that partnership. There are a few positives from the game but this pitch was such that one team had to bat better than the other.”