Milestone a distraction: Kohli

PALLEKELE:With India standing on the verge of their first series whitewash in Sri Lanka has pumped up Virat Kohli’s boys. But excitement can also make you lose control, believes the India skipper.

So Kohli wants his boys to focus on one session at a time. “For us it’s about playing another Test match and trying to win another Test match. We have already won the series. But as I said it doesn’t mean that we can be complacent,” Kohli said.

“I personally feel that it’s (clean sweep) just a distraction that causes people to be over excited and look too far ahead. I think we need to stay in the present and treat every session with respect to win a Test, and that’s exactly what we want to follow,” he said.

There will be one forced change in the 11. Kuldeep Yadav could get to play his first overseas Test following Ravindra Jadeja’s suspension.

“A Chinaman bowler is always something which is an x-factor, and his confidence is up. He has a great chance of playing tomorrow and I wish him the best,” said Kohli.

“He (Kuldeep) has proven himself in Dharamsala which was not such a spin friendly wicket on the first 2-3 days. He turned the game around for us. So he has the ability, which is rare.”

Testing the bench will have to wait. Kohli believes a Test match is not the platform for it. “We certainly don’t want to take anything lightly and play the same kind of cricket that we have and hopefully retain the team that played the last Test as much as we can. We are not thinking of too many changes, especially in this format because we don’t want to take things for granted. We are not thinking about changes.”

The rains leading to the cancellation of the team’s practice session, the combination Virat had in mind was based on how the wicket looked two days ago. After receiving the news that the local groundstaff have been working on the surface, the Indian team management went to have a look at the wicket.

“We heard there were some changes to the pitch so they (coaches) have gone to check how things look at this stage, so we will have more clarity on what we need to go in with,” said Kohli, who was not stressed about missing on practice due to the rains.

“Everyone is playing good cricket and everyone is bowling well. So we feel absolutely comfortable going into the Test even though we didn’t practice today.”

The extra time the captain got, Kohli would have used to apply his mind on the combination for the upcoming one-day series, the selection for which will be on the second day of the Test.

While confirming his availability for the limited-overs contests, Kohli said: “We are going to sit down on selection soon and we have plans in mind and combinations that we want to speak about. As captain, I am in the thick of things and knowing what to speak to the committee about.” PALLEKELE India skipper Virat Kohli called for more consistent ICC guidelines on player suspension. The ICC suspended Ravindra Jadeja for the third Test after the India spinner accumulated six demerit points over a 24-month period.

“Lot of things happen in the heat of the moment. But you don’t know what’s going to cost you one point, two points or three points,” Kohli said on Friday.

“If it’s (ICC guidelines) consistent, it’s going to be good going ahead because players will be more aware of how they need to conduct themselves on the field and it’ll only help the game get better,” Kohli said.

Jadeja had entered the Colombo Test with three demerit points that he picked up for running down the middle of the pitch while batting during the Indore Test against New Zealand in October 2016.

He was handed a further three demerit points in the second Test against Sri Lanka when he fielded the ball off his bowling and threw it back at batsman Dimuth Karunaratne, who had not left his crease.

“I think the intent counts nowadays and that’s something that players need to keep in mind. It might be a very small thing but if the intent is to do something bad then, obviously, that is something that counts against the player,” said Kohli.

“The guidelines shouldn’t vary according to how the situation is looked at. So if it is consistent then I think it is going to be good going ahead because players will obviously be more aware of how they need to conduct themselves on the field,” Kohli said.