Bengaluru: Indian skipper Virat Kohli believes that the current ODI team could go down as one of the greatest in history if they can match the same success it has been achieving of late, in overseas conditions.
The Indian skipper opened up after the iconic Sunil Gavaskar had said a few days back that this ODI side could become the best India has produced so far.
“It is a decent compliment. Obviously coming from him (Gavaskar), it feels good because he has seen a lot of Indian teams over the past few years,” said Kohli in an interaction with the reporters after India lost to Australia in the fourth ODI by 21 runs.
“(But) the journey is long because the team is young. We are playing at home right now. If we can replicate this form in conditions that are alien to us after that we can sit down and be happy with what we have done so far,” he added.
With the loss, India slumped to the second spot in the ICC ODI rankings. Also, Australia ended India’s nine-match winning streak, handing them a defeat at the venue for the first time since
2003.
Kohli said, “It is all about repeating those processes and try and do the same thing again and again and be consistent in giving the best shots.”
The 28-year-old also justified the management’s decision of giving the reserve players a chance to showcase their talent in the series.
India already have won the series 3-1 with the fifth and final ODI scheduled to be played on Sunday in Nagpur.
Pacers Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah while Axar Patel came in place of chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who did a pretty good job so far in the series.
But this move didn’t work as the Australians plundered 334 runs with the left-handed David Warner leading the way with 124 runs.
But the Indian captain defended his bowlers and said, “We have won the series and you have to try out guys at some stage. You need to test your bench strength as well and you need to give those guys game time. I think Umesh bowled well, even Shami bowled well. Umesh even picked up four wickets.”
He also said that one needed to implement their alternate plans successfully in order to succeed.
“I am not someone who sits and thinks maybe I shouldn’t have done this. You try, you go for something, if it doesn’t work make another plan and you go for it again. That is exactly what I think and what the whole squad thinks,” opined Kohli.
Kedar Jadhav (67) and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (41) helped India stay in the chase at one point of time with a 61-run stand and Kohli said that this partnership would reach a lot of things to both these batsmen.
“When Hardik and Kedar were batting we thought this was the ideal situation for them to understand how the game can be taken till the end. They really did a good job with that partnership,” said Kohli.
He also added, “There are a few positives from the game but this pitch was such that one team had to bat better than the other.”
Kohli also credited the Australian bowlers for their terrific effort in restricting the star-studded Indian batting line-up to 313, 21 runs short of the Australian total.
“I think Australia’s bowling was quite good. They got breakthroughs at the right time and that really stopped our momentum especially when Kedar and Hardik were going well” he said.
He further added, “If they (Hardik and Kedar) had put on 40-50 more runs it would have been ideal for us. That’s exactly what we were seeking but things don’t go your way all the time.”
The Indian skipper also hailed the efforts of the opening pair of Rohit Sharma (65) and Ajinkya Rahane (53), who had given India a flying start in the huge run-chase.
The duo registered a hundred run opening stand and Kohli felt that the team needed one more big partnership like that to successfully chase the Australian total.
“We got a good opening partnership, but we needed one big partnership after that as well. From that point of view, it wasn’t a great batting performance from us. But that can happen, people have off days,” said Kohli.