Debasis Sen, Centurion: Team India Head Coach Ravi Shastri on Friday entirely credited Virat Kohli for leading the side to an emphatic 5-1 ODI series win against South Africa. Always a huge supporter of Virat, Shastri once again lauded his captaincy as well the intensity he instilled in his teammates after being 0-2 down in the test series. Here are the excerpts of Ravi Shastri’s post match conference:
Virat’s intensity:
Huge! When you have a leader like that who leads by example, the other guy’s jolly well follow. That’s the beauty about this team on this trip where I feel proud as a coach about my boys is the intensity they showed. Even after being two-zip down in the Test series, for them to show that kind of character to come back and win that Test match in Johannesburg on a spiteful pitch. And to then take that momentum into the one-day series and show the consistency they’ve shown over the last two weeks is fabulous. Entire credit should go to the leader. He has led from the front, first with his batting and then with his intensity, which makes other people in the team also up the ante.
Kohli the batsman:
Fabulous. Over 500 runs in 6 matches against a South African attack. Do I have to say anything more? I’ve seen him batting across all conditions, in all formats. And it’s not just averages, it’s the way you get runs, when you get it, and the impact those runs have on what the team does. I would simply say he’s the best batsman in the world now.
Bumrah a revelation:
He’s a world-class operator across all formats. And you know he’s just shown on this tour how quickly he’s matured. You can’t imagine the first Test in Cape Town was his debut. You’ve seen him here today, he’s gone through the three Test matches, he’s gone through the six One-Day Internationals and he’s not let up even once, which augurs well for us.
Bowling attack:
I think even in my last stint, Virat and me have always discussed that we need wickets in the middle overs. You know we’ve got to somehow be able to attack and find ways of breaking partnerships and not allowing the game to drift. So that was the idea. identifying the right kind of people to do the job was also important. Luckily for us, Kuldeep and Chahal have complemented each other beautifully. They bring great variety.
Lessons learnt from series:
We have learnt some good habits on this trip. Like I have said this is a young side, they have got a lot of tough tours coming up and I think they have conducted themselves and handled themselves extremely well on this tour. I would like my boys to enjoy every bit of this series win. Whatever the score line is they must enjoy because it doesn’t happen every day.
T20 series:
It is a new game and it’s a different format, you respect that format, go in with the same ideology you went into the ODIs and work ethics will remain the same. If you do that then I am sure the intensity will be there as well.