His batting form has not been the best of late but an unfazed Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday said he does not need to put in any extra effort on that front as he has always played with responsibility for the team.
Kohli, who played for India A in the just-concluded second unofficial four-day Test against Australia ‘A’, produced knocks of 16 and 45 in the match which the visiting team won by 10 wickets. India has not played much of Test cricket this year and Kohli’s form has been rather indifferent in the ODI arena where he hasn’t scored a hundred since February.
Asked if he needs to curb his aggressive approach to get back into the groove ahead of the tour of Sri Lanka starting August 12, the batsman responded with a firm no.
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“As a batsman I have always been responsible with the way I play my cricket and it comes from wanting to win the game for the team everytime I play. So I don’t think I need to change too much in that aspect. I think that is one of the major reasons that the board thought that I could be the man to take up responsibility for the team,” Kohli told bcci.tv.
“It all boils down to how you play your cricket eventually and that’s the way I have always played my cricket, be it on the field, be it the way I bat, I always give my 100 per cent. Putting in that extra effort in batting I don’t think is required because I have always played in a responsible way for the team. And I will continue to do that till the time I play for my country,” he asserted.
Talking about the tour of Sri Lanka, which comprises three Tests, Kohli said he is looking forward to leading India for the first time in a full-fledged series.
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“It’s basically my first full assignment as Test captain.
In Bangladesh it was a one-odd Test match it wasn’t a full-fledged series. So it will be a new challenge for me and the whole team because we have such a young squad and so many new players looking to build their careers,” he said.
India A, for which Kohli turned up here, is currently being coached by former skipper Rahul Dravid. Kohli said playing under his tutelage has been helpful.
“It’s always nice to be around great players like Rahul Dravid, because just their presence is so calming and so reassuring and even if you don’t want to speak about the game, just having them around makes you feel good about your own cricket because just looking at them you can learn so much more,” Kohli said.
On why he chose to play this game, Kohli said, “I wanted some kind of momentum going into the Sri Lanka tour. We have had a decent break, I have had three weeks off. I have had lots of time off the game, which was required to get mentally fresh and now with a week of training going into this India A game and a week or two of training after that as well, I think it will be the best preparation for me as far as the Sri Lanka tour is concerned, so that was the whole idea.” — PTI