Got a dream team of pacers: Kohli

Indore, November 16 

Indian captain Virat Kohli has termed his fast bowling arsenal a “dream combination” that can torment any opposition on any kind of surface. The pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami shared 14 Bangladeshi wickets in the resounding win, while only five wickets went to the spinners.

Asked about India’s fast bowling resources, Kohli said: “These guys (fast bowlers) are on top of their game... When they bowl, it looks like any pitch is a good pitch. Jasprit (Bumrah) is not a part of the attack and when he comes back, it will be a one heck of an attack to counter!”

“They can take wickets in every spell. The slip fielders are ready as they know the ball can come any over. This is a dream combination for any captain. Having strong bowlers is the most important thing in any team,” he added.

Talking about India’s show overall, Kohli said it was an allround effort. “It’s another clinical performance. It was very professional with the bat. Playing five batters, with one guy taking responsibility is what we want with overseas tours coming up,” he said. “Hats off to the boys.”

Home record 

India’s home record is now comparable to that of the Australians of the early 2000s, but Kohli said the team is not playing for records. “The numbers and records are there for everyone to see, that’ll remain in the books. We haven’t focused on it,” he said. “We’re looking at keeping the standards up, motivating the next lot of players. In that process, we’re pushing up the standard of Indian cricket. We don’t care about numbers at all as a team.”

Asked about Mayank Agarwal’s superlative knock, Kohli said, “The mindset is simple... When you see a young guy coming in to bat in Tests, I know how much time it took me to get those big hundreds, so I know the importance of getting big runs. It’s important as a senior batter to let them know to keep going. I want them to not make the mistakes I made as a youngster, to make them world class cricketers.”

The Indian team will play its first ever Day/Night Test in the second and final match of the series in Kolkata, and Kohli said the players are excited about it. “The pink-ball Test is going to be exciting, will be a challenge for the batters,” he said. “With the older ball, it doesn’t swing that much so the bowlers will have a challenge. We’re just happy to be among the first to play pink-ball cricket for India.” — PTI