Virat Kohli : We don’t want to be predictable in any way

India completed their second series whitewash on the Sri Lanka tour, yesterday, as a dominating Indian side won by six wickets in the fifth and final ODI of the tour. And barring a glitch in the second ODI, where India needed a late eighth-wicket partnership to cross the line, Virat Kohli and company have been flawless.

After sealing the series in the first three games itself, India started experimenting with the likes of Manish Pandey and Shardul Thakur and Kohli believes that trying out different combinations help them to stay unpredictable in the eyes of their opponents.

“You might see changes in the bowling attack every now and then but these guys have grabbed the opportunity really well. It's going to be a challenge among all the bowlers and the spinners that are going to be in the part of the bigger group to make it to the 2019 World Cup. We don't want to be predictable in any way,” Kohli said in the post-match interview.

The 28-year-old skipper believes that transparency is the best way to keep healthy competition in the squad as the side continues to plan further combination and rotations in the remaining ODI games till the World Cup.

“We address it and tell them that this is a bunch of 20-25 people who will make the probable for the World Cup and everyone has an equal opportunity to be tested at different stages. We will have to keep trying different players and the best combinations for us. And we will have to give that combination a long run before we settle into the world cup. So, everyone understands where we stand as a team," Kohli added.

His brilliant innings of 110* off 116 balls stewarded the side to a comfortable win with Sri Lanka hardly getting any scope to launch any sort of comeback following the early wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. Kohli is now the second highest centurion in one-day cricket as his last innings brought him level with Ricky Ponting’s record.

The boy from Delhi has taken 182 matches less than Ponting (375 matches) to achieve his 30 ton and is now just behind master blaster Sachin Tendulkar (49 centuries) in the all time list. However, the batsman said he doesn’t let statistics affect his form.

“These things keep happening as you go along in your career. You don't target these things, but yeah, those stat windows are hard to neglect because they pop up everywhere after you've achieved something. It feels great to equal one, but as you said the great man is (chuckles) quite a bit away. That's going to take a hell of an effort,” said Kohli.

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