Watch: This is the reason why Virat Kohli warns his teammates ahead of the first test





XtraTime Web Desk: Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli is well aware that despite of the absence of star cricketers like Steve Smith and David Warner the Australian cricket team has the firepower to dismantle Indian batting line up. That’s why while talking ahead of the match Kohli stated that the current Australian team isn’t vulnerable at home and they aren’t taking them lightly.




“I don’t think personally any Australian side is vulnerable at home. You definitely can’t take any side for granted and more so Australia in Australia because regardless of what happened, skill level is still there. So you have to respect that. At the end of the day, however you talk or behave in a certain manner, it’s your skill level that comes (into play) and they certainly have the skill to still dominate at home and we will have to be at our best to be very competitive and get the results that we want here,” said Kohli on the eve of the first test.

“We are definitely not taking anything for granted; we are not even expecting them to play in a certain manner. We just want to focus on our skills and things that we need to do right because as a side we are looking to correct things that haven’t gone right for us in the last two tours that we had been on. So, our focus is purely on our team,” added the run machine.




When the topic of obsession turned into a discussion about his love affair with Adelaide, where has three hundreds from two Tests, he spoke about his “connect” with the iconic home ground of Sir Don Bradman.

“I love coming to this ground, the city in general. I really enjoy the city, I don’t know what the connection is, but I just feel really good here. Not to say that the performances are always guaranteed in a certain place but yes, coming to Adelaide I feel different from places that I have gone in the world and that’s been the case,” said world’s no 1 batsman.




He didn’t hide that Adelaide is his favourite ground outside India.

“It happens to every cricketer, they have a favourite ground away from home. For me, Adelaide has always been special, because I scored my first Test ton here. So, from then on the connection started.

“It’s a great place to play cricket in general; the stadium has been redone, the pitch has always been good. So it’s about which team plays better, it’s been that kind of pitch. They are no-givens on the Adelaide pitch. I have enjoyed my cricket here.”




Familiarity with the Adelaide Oval, the good memories are of help, agreed Kohli.

“Familiarity certainly will help the fact that we have played quite a few Test matches here before and scored runs. So I think it’s even more important to know that you have performed in a place and you know how to get runs there.




“It’s all about remembering those good things that we did and applying it here. I know England and South Africa were tougher. Australia can be a great place to bat if the batsmen apply themselves well. But it takes character. It takes grinding out tough situations,” he sounded cautiously optimistic.