Kohli hopes for quiet tour of Australia
India captain Virat Kohli wants a sledge-free tour of Australia but is ready to fight fire with fire on the landmark series.
India departed yesterday for Australia where they have never won a Test series and feel boosted by the one year bans being served by home stars Steve Smith and David Warner.
Kohli is known for his combative tactics but he said India would depend on ability over aggression on the key tour. “When it comes to getting engaged in an argument on the field, or in a fight as people want to call it excitedly, I have been completely OK playing without an altercation,” Kohli said before departure.
“I have enough belief in my ability to play without a reason to pump myself up. “Those were very immature things that I needed to feed on in early days of my career.” The Australian dressing room has vowed a culture change since Smith and Warner banned for their involvement in ball tampering in South Africa this year. But no tour of Australia is a gentle experience.
“If they want to play a certain way we will reciprocate in that way, that’s how the game of cricket goes,” Kohli said.
He insisted the team know the importance of “remaining competitive”.
India start their tour with the first of three Twenty20 internationals in Brisbane on Wednesday. They will then play four Tests and three one-day internationals.
India maintained their home supremacy with a thrashing of the West Indies in Tests (2-0), ODIs (3-1) and T20 (3-0).
But away it has been a different story. India lost 2-1 in South Africa and then were outplayed in England 4-1. Kohli insists his side have learned from the defeats however. “We have spoken as a team after England and everyone is keen to correct those mistakes and put in a complete performance which we want to last for a full series,” said Kohli.
“I thinks it’s Test cricket that we really need to tighten things up and keep moving forward and correcting those mistakes. Because in ODI and T20s we have played really good cricket.”
Kohli recently became the fastest to reach 10 000 runs in one-day internationals, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar. But the other batsmen have been inconsistent.
“Our focus will be how the batsmen perform on this tour because the bowlers are in a great space. After a long time we feel we can pick up 20 wickets in every game,” he said Leach survived the final over of the day as nightwatchman.
“Batting last on that wicket will be very hard,” Leach, 27,” told BBC Sport.
“If we bat well and get a good lead then that will put a lot of pressure on Sri Lanka.” England are 1-0 up in the three-match series and victory in the second Test will secure their first away series win under captain Joe Root.
Dimuth Karunaratne (63) and Dhananjaya de Silva (59) put on 96 for the third wicket to frustrate England in the morning before the tourists reduced Sri Lanka to 165-6.
But Roshen expertly accumulated to add 171 for the last four wickets, while England’s spinners failed to bowl a consistent line and lengths.
“Our plan for the day was to be as patient as possible and know that things were not just going to happen,” said left-arm spinner Leach, who took 3-70.
“We were a bit disappointed that they got ahead because we felt at one point we could’ve had that lead.
“I could have been a bit more consistent in terms of asking questions ball after ball.
“I need to be really specific with my line and length in the last innings because if it’s turning a lot then we all need to be right on it. That’s going to give us a great chance.” India face the other unbeaten side in Group B, Australia , today to determine who will finish top.
Prior to this match the concern over the weather had focused on St Lucia, where the Group A matches are taking place, but some torrential morning rain left the groundstaff with much to do and it was to their credit that there was only a minimal delay to the start and no overs were lost.
Raj, reprieved by a routine drop by Lara Maritz at square-leg in the third over, carved consecutive boundaries as 15 came from Maritz’s first over to help them to 42-0 after the powerplay.
Talented 18-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues struck boundaries in three successive overs before she was stumped off a wide in the 15th over.
That brought in India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who launched eight sixes in her 103 against New Zealand in the opening match, and although she hit her second ball for six, her third was superbly caught on the cover boundary by Shauna Kavanagh. Ireland had not scored more than 101 before in the tournament and although the consistent Clare Shillington gave them a solid start and passed 1,000 T20 runs with a second successive score in the 20s, she was deceived in the flight by a sharply spinning leg break from Poonam Yadav and comfortably stumped in the ninth over. Ireland captain Laura Delany: “We were superb in the first innings. A couple of chances went down but to keep them to 145 when they made 195 against New Zealand was excellent.”
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur: “I am happy we qualified but there are still a lot of areas we have to improve. We have to be aggressive in the field and in batting we need to improve. Today we didn’t bat according to our plans. If you want to win against Australia you have to be aggressive, both in batting and bowling.”