Wanderers win could be a massive milestone for Indian cricket, says Kohli

ROY93025
Indian captain Virat Kohli at the post match press conference at Wanderers on Saturday. Image Source: BCCI

Debasis Sen, Johannesburg: India skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday described the 63 runs win over South Africa in the third and final test match here at Wanderers as a massive milestone for Indian cricket.

“It could be a massive milestone for us. We already had the belief but now we have the result to back it up. We certainly believe that any conditions we are given we certainly have it in our abilities to think about winning test matches, yes we will lose some but we will end up winning a lot as well. This day will be remembered for a long time as a team. I believe that and the whole team believes that and the mood in the change room is amazing right now. And you know the guys are looking forward to repeating this much more in conditions that are not ours,” said a visibly satisfied Indian captain in the post match press conference.

Kohli heaped praise on the bowlers, describing their performance as the biggest positive that has come out of the three-match Test series against South Africa.
“ All the bowlers were outstanding, I mean to take all the 60 wickets in the series, we haven’t done it ever before away from home. And I as said earlier, this is the biggest positive that has come out of this series. The kind of character that they showed today, it’s really praise-worthy and as a captain I feel very happy for them and for the whole team,” said Kohli.
The Indian cricketers showed tremendous character and guts after being down 0-2 in the series. It also spoke about their mental toughness.

Talking about the win Kohli said, “This win feels great. As batsmen, if we can think about countering conditions better, we can do away from home. We never complained about the tracks we played on. Secondly when we saw the pitch, we knew it’s going to be an equal chance for both sides, we decided to take the challenge head on, so it feels really, really satisfying to have won on a pitch that was supposed to have pace and bounce and it did and it played to our advantage.”

On being asked where he will rate this test win, Kohli said, “Lord’s was very special because we were playing on a similar sort of pitch; not as fast as this, but it was very challenging and we had won their because of our batting efforts and the bowlers coming together well. So, we had to show character in this game, and step up not for anyone else but for the belief of the team. When no one is believing in you, no one’s backing you, it’s very important to back yourselves as individuals. So we never really cared about what people are saying about us. We knew that if we play well together as a team, we can win here,” signed off Kohli.