Debasis Sen, Antigua: Indian captain Virat Kohli shared his excitement about the ongoing World Test Championship at a function here on Monday night. Kohli along with his teammates were attending the 7th Annual Awards ceremony of West Indies Cricket Board at the Sandals Grande hotel.
“Heading into the World Test championship, I think both teams are quite excited. For us it is about continuing the good work, making sure we are consistent enough. Most important thing about the test championship is it brings a lot more competitiveness and more purpose in all the test matches ahead,” said Kohli.
The Indian team, currently ranked the No 1 test team in the world had a great success in this format over the last six months, the pinnacle of which was winning a series in Australia for the first time. Talking about the success of his team in test cricket, Kohli said, “We have been quite successful in test cricket over the last couple of years. Essence of that have been our bowlers. Unless you take 20 wickets you are never going to win a test match even if you scored thousand runs. So, that’s been the secret of our success in recent times.”
On being asked what has been his secret of success when it comes to conversion of hundreds, Kohli said, “The biggest revelation over the past few years has been if you are thinking deep and want to do well for the team then you can push limits that you don’t even know exists. It’s all about bringing out that drive and passion to do well for the team. I batted six hours in a test match just thinking deep. For me it has always been to be at that present moment thinking about the team. That’s why you play cricket for, to do well for the team.”
The batting in test match is declining. These are the words of Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and it has come at the time when the pitches have become result-oriented and bowlers have raised their game several-fold.
On being asked by Ian Bishop during Cricket West Indies’ awards night about whether modern-day batsmen are doing enough, Kohli replied: “Well, if I have to be brutally honest, I don’t think us batsmen have lived up to the standard. We have travelled a lot over the past year and a half and it’s been challenging. We lost in England but won in Australia because the batsmen pulled up.”
Among the other Indian cricketers who attended the function were vice captain Rahane, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Ishant , Rahul, Shami, Mayank , Bumrah, Pant and Saini. West Indies captain Jason Holder bagged the best test cricketer award while Shai Hope was awarded the best ODI cricketer. Delhi Capitals player Keemo Paul was chosen as the best T20I cricketer.