PALLEKELE: Skipper Virat Kohli said that the innings played by Hardik Pandya changed the mindset of Sri Lanka that eventually led to India winning the third and final Test by an innings inside three days and with it the series 3-0.
“I don’t think this pitch changed in a way that it was dangerous to bat. We had enough runs on the board. The innings by Hardik changed the mindset of the opposition, they probably thought they’ve given 100 runs too many. After being 320 for 6 we ended up getting 490. That always puts some kind of doubt in the opposition’s mind,” said Kohli at the post-match press conference.
“A guy who can get a fifty and a hundred in his first three games batting at number 8 has to have something special in him. And the innings that he played here, after being 320/6, it wasn’t just mad slogging. He actually used his brain and batted with the tail which I think is a great sign for us,” he said.
“Hardik brings in great balance to the team, he’s a great fielder and he gives you those crucial breakthroughs, he’s very handy with the ball and we know what he can do with the bat as well. All doubts aside from the outside, inside the team we absolutely have 120% faith in him.”
Kohli said that his team played really good cricket to win the series.
“We won all three tosses looking at the nature of the pitches that was a massive factor as well. I believe in the second Test we would have faced more pressure if we had not won the toss because of the way the wicket played from the second day onwards,” said Kohli.
“All those things you have to take into account and look at the larger picture. From that point of view I think we’ve played really good cricket to win 3-0. We put constant pressure on the opposition to make sure we win more sessions during a Test match and that has led us to win the series with a clean sweep. It makes us really proud as a team,” he said.
The Indian skipper stated the reason why India have been consistent and held onto the number one ranking was because they don’t differentiate their level of motivation and intensity according to oppositions.
“Then you’re judging oppositions differently. The reason we’ve been successful so far is because we treat a cricket game like a cricket game, which is executing the abilities that we can execute to the best of our potential, not looking at who we are playing against,” said Kohli.
“That is the attitude that has kept people hungry, you know you won’t see reckless cricket regardless of whom we play. We want to consolidate every situation, we want to make sure that we’re correcting things along the journey and that’s the mindset we want to take forward. You can’t raise your intensity or lower your intensity according to your oppositions because that I feel is disrespecting the sport.” - ST
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