INDIA-BANGLADESH ONE-OFF TEST

Closing out games the next target, feels Kohli

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Virat Kohli is glad about his own batting form but credits his pacers for their superlative show in the home season thus far.
Virat Kohli is glad about his own batting form but credits his pacers for their superlative show in the home season thus far. © Cricbuzz

Virat Kohli was visibly happy with the way the one-off Test against Bangladesh went by. Although he had a major contribution in the win with a record fourth consecutive double hundred in as many series, he was quick to credit the success to his teammates. The skipper noted that often the supporting roles played by a few of the players go unnoticed, but the Man of the Match performances are mostly born out of these performances. He was also all praise for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who in his opinion, has visibly upped his game. Looking ahead, Kohli feels that his team would need to master the art of closing out games and that would be one of the major areas he would want to focus on.

Excerpts from the Indian captain's post-match press conference:

On if India's success is because of Kohli constantly pushing the envelope, thus inspiring others to do the same...

I don't think it is because of me. Everyone at the international level wants to do well. We are playing as a team and that's been the difference in this team. If you see, you can say probably (in) 2016, I scored a lot of runs but before that in 2015 as well we won a lot of matches. I didn't score many runs but the other guys stepped up and scored runs, so their confidence was rubbing off on me and that's how you play as a team. They pulled the team through when others didn't score runs, say Ajinkya's two tons in Delhi or his second innings hundred in Sri Lanka. So there are quite a few instances where all the members of the team have stepped up at some stage or the other. And that's why we stand where we are and having that streak is not down to two or three people, it is a combined effort of all the guys.

If you see the last series, the contribution of the fast bowlers stood out. There was so much focus on the spinners, but I thought they stood out as the difference between the two sides to be really honest. These are the things that go unnoticed. Guys who have man of the match performances are usually in focus than the guys who don't have those performances, but in the context of the game they get two set batsmen out and the whole game opens up for the guy who becomes the man of the match. We focus on those things and give credit to those guys, and I think that's been the plus point of our team where everyone has contributed in the past few series that we have played.

On his improvements as a Test captain...

You know sometimes, I stand on the field and think the wicket is not falling (going down), you literally cannot do anything as a captain. You just have to accept the game is going... probably look to be more consistent with the ball and the fields that you set. Honestly, it is the players that make you the captain that you become. To be very honest, everyone knows how to set fields on the ground, it's just that you know, (you've to) make sure you have the responsibility of keeping the energy of the team up. I look to push myself, throw myself, so guys know that they have to push for a wicket. Especially the fielders inside the ring, the bowlers know what they need to do but the fielders within the ring need to support the bowlers. I need to do that first, for the guys to show that energy. If I am able to maintain that and that has been a takeaway from the games that I have been captain so far, that a lot of times, you know that there is only so much that you can do as a captain.

Before I would still be a bit relentless with fields but now, I understand, when a pair is going for runs, I immediately go for in-out fields, no point giving them four or five boundaries. They might as well score 25 runs in singles, and take 15 overs to do that. That creates pressure and when you know you are bowling good balls, one ball does something and you are back into the game. That's something I have learnt and hopefully we will take it forward.

On his double hundred...

The idea was to play with five batters with [Wriddhiman] Saha and that makes it six. So you have to take extra responsibility. As I said, the wicket was really good to bat on, and I didn't expect myself to get 200 off 240 balls. Usually, I take more time. (The) wicket allowed me to play my shots. I played percentage cricket, so it was good to get into that rhythm, playing few shorter format games (helps). It was really important to get into the rhythm going into a big series against Australia. I feel good about where my game stands, and hopefully I can take it forward.

On the performance of the fast bowlers in Hyderabad...

Very good, considering that the wicket was very good to bat on. Very good toss to win for us as well and getting big runs on the board. First innings took a bit of patience for us to get wickets. I thought Umesh [Yadav], Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and Ishant [Sharma] were brilliant but Umesh stood out. (In the) second innings, all three bowled really well and Ishant stood out. I said in the post-match (presentation ceremony) that the quality of our spinners allows our fast bowlers to attack. Because of the way spinners bowl and contain runs, the pacers can really attack as soon as it starts reverse swinging. I thought today Ishant's spell was really good... bowled with pace and had to put in effort to take wickets at that stage and he took both the set batsmen out. That was really good for us.

On the strength of the pace bowling unit and its advantage overseas...

It's always a good thing to have good fast bowlers in the team, especially in Test cricket. If you can have three-four seamers in your squad who are attacking bowlers and can pick you wickets at any stage during the day, then it is a bonus for any side. As you said, when we start going away from home, it is going to help us big time. The more the guys understand how to pick up wickets and how to set batsmen up, it is gonna [going to] be really good for us when we go away from home because sides will know that these are not easy runs for the taking, they will have to work hard given the way our fast bowlers are bowling. It gives us more strength as a team having fast bowlers in rhythm and confidence and that's something we always believe in doing in the team - giving our bowlers more importance and telling them they are the match winners, which in true sense they are. As I said before, you can score as many runs as you want but if you don't pick up the wickets you won't win a Test match. That's why I call them match winners in the Test format any day.

On Bhuvneshwar's role and India's reverse swing abilities...

Shami, Ishant and Umesh, we all know that they have done it with the old ball many times. The way Bhuvi has bowled in the last few games, (and the way) he has played with the old ball is all because his fitness levels has increased. Having more strength in the body, he's been able to put more pace in [behind] the ball which is key for reverse wing. The other three guys, naturally, have more pace than him. I think Bhuvi has stepped up the game with the old ball too. It gives us a lot of options. You won't hesitate playing Bhuvi on any sort of wicket if he keeps bowling like that and [gets] reverse swing. Credit to him, he's working on that aspect of the bowling. The other three guys have been outstanding with the old ball. Shami, Umesh and Ishant have given us crucial breakthroughs, match winning breakthroughs with the old ball. It's a great thing to have as captain, these bowlers bowling well with the new ball and old ball.

On if Bangladesh's resistance was surprising...

No. It was a good wicket to bat on and if you play basic cricket, you can score runs on this kind of wicket. I didn't expect them to get out for 200, 250 runs. They do have good batsmen in their ranks. They scored 580 in New Zealand, so you know this was a good wicket to bat on and they would have some confidence coming into the series. That's what they showed and our persistence in the series with the team as a bowling unit came on top which has been the case in the past few games. As I said we want to focus on ourselves as a team, but I wasn't surprised at all. They surely put up a fight in the first innings of the game.

On if you'll expect a similar flat wicket in Pune for the start of the Australia Tests...

You have to go and see what the Pune wicket is like. Usually this time of the year, it's low and slow. It's what I've faced in the IPL as well a lot of times. This [Hyderabad] was a very good batting wicket. It didn't offer anything to the bowlers in the first couple of innings of the Test match. But this was a decent enough wicket as well. I thought if it started turning on Day 3, [it] probably [would have] been more like an Indian wicket. It went on well till the fourth day which was very surprising. But credit to our bowlers, they were able to get a result on this wicket as well.

On areas of improvement before taking on Australia...

The only thing we could have done better is close off the second innings quickly. I think there was a bit of (a) lapse in (the) body language when they were eight down. We should have taken these chances and finished off the game early, 45 minutes before the time we actually did. I think those are the things we can take away from this game. We need to improve. Closing off games is important, especially in Test cricket, you don't want to give the opposition any chance to get into the game. That's something we need to keep repeating as a team.

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