XtraTime Web Desk: Virat Kohli & Co. have registered a historic win over Australia in the third Test in Melbourne to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the Test series. After that the India skipper is looking to win the series in Sydney with a win there as well.
“It’s a great opportunity from the point of view that we have always wanted to win a series away from home. Actually every series that we play. The fact that the boys have realised that they have worked so hard to be here now and there is no looking back. This is the last Test of the series and you have to give everything you have to win a series. That was our goal from day one. That goal has not changed at all,” said Kohli while talking to the media after the third test in Melbourne.
There was no play in the first session of final day’s play as it was raining continuously. On being asked whether he was a bit tensed ahead of the match day, Kohli said,” Not really. Some people in management group were having a look at that. We knew we had enough time.”
Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t completed a year in Test cricket but he has become India’s most pick of the bowlers with his unconventional bowling action and remarkable accuracy with the ball. In this match Bumrah took 9 wickets to take his side home as well. After seeing his performance skipper Kohli looked very happy and backed his energy and fitness.
“I think the fact that he was showing amazing levels of energy and fitness in white ball cricket and hence he was so good because he was not giving runs with the new ball, he was getting wickets, he would come back in the death overs and not bowl one loose delivery. He was training like he wanted to play test cricket, he was that obsessed about his fitness levels and his work ethics. So we discussed before South Africa that if we put him as a surprise package he could be lethal if he gets his lines and lengths right, the mindset he has is what separates him from anyone else in the world right now.
“He looks at the pitch and he doesn’t think it’s a hard toil on these wickets. He thinks how can I take make a breakthrough for the team and your mindset separates you from the rest and he is as strong headed as I have seen anyone in the past and that’s the key to his success, that’s what I have seen in the past 12 months. The way he has matured in test cricket and the areas he has bowled so quickly in his test career I think it’s a scary sign for the batsmen around the world in test cricket.”