Can’t live in dreamland: Virat
■ Skipper hits back at media heaping praise
Centurion, Feb. 17: Virat Kohli has literally made the 22-yard strip his own kingdom and the skipper is not in a mood to “compete with anyone” for any specific “tag” such as the best batsman in world cricket.
While India’s ODI juggernaut has rolled on, there have been questions raised about the quality of opposition playing ODI cricket and the skipper’s views made it clear that he wasn’t amused one bit. Questioned if this was India’s best overseas
What matters is what the management thinks about me, what I think about the players and what the players think about me. That’s all that matters to me. I know the headlines change from day in and day out. — VIRAT KOHLI
win, pat came a terse response, “You people can tell!”
“One month back we were a very bad team. Now we are being asked these questions. We haven’t changed our mindset. Now whether this is the biggest win or no, whoever wants to analyze, write will do so,” Kohli said. It was a sense of deja vu for the skipper, who had a slight altercation with the media at this very venue after the team lost the Test series.
“I am not going to live in a dreamland right now and accept all the praise, sit here and feel good about this, because it doesn’t matter to me.
Centurion, Feb. 17: India’s head coach Ravi Shastri feels that the sheer impact of Virat Kohli’s brilliance makes him “world’s best batsman” at the moment. Kohli along with Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steven Smith are considered to be the four top batsmen in world cricket but Shastri feels that the Indian skipper is in a league of his own.
“It’s not just about averages, it is the way you get runs, when you get it, and the impact those runs have on what the team does. I would simply say he is the best batsman in the world now,” Shastri declared at the post series media interaction.
Shastri was effusive in his praise for Kohli giving him all credit for the right kind of intensity that he has been able to bring in the unit.
“You spoke of intensity. Where does the intensity come from? When you have a leader like that, who leads by example, the other guys jolly well follow. Otherwise they know what to expect. That’s the beauty about this team on this trip where I feel proud as a coach about my boys and the intensity they showed,” the former India captain said.
The best part for Shastri was the comeback after being 0-2 down in the Test series.
“Even after being two-zero down in the Test series, for them to show that kind of character to come back and win that Test match in Johannesburg on a spiteful pitch. And to then take that momentum into the one-day series and show the consistency they have shown over the last two weeks is fabulous.
“Entire credit should go to the leader because he has led from the front, first with his batting and then as I said with his intensity, which makes other people in the team also up the ante,” he added.