Virat Kohli hails Indiaâs series win against âbest balanced ODI teamâ
Virat Kohli hailed the performances of Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya in the ODI series against England which concluded on Sunday and spoke of the balance that Barodaâs Pandya brings to the team as a useful No 7 batsman and pace-bowling option going into the Champions Trophy in England in June.
âVery pleased to see Kedar bat the way he did, very pleased to see Hardik perform with bat and ball. Very pleased to see Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) and Mahi (MS Dhoni) bat together and string that big partnership. And even today the partnership was outstanding between Kedar and Hardik, when we were 170-odd for 5 with all the experienced guys back,â skipper Kohli told a news conference after the defeat in the final ODI. India won the three-match series 2-1.
âBut I think these guys have shown character and stuck it out whenever we've been under pressure. And that to me is the stand-out of this series as a captain. The way the new guys have performed and the way MS and Yuvi have batted. Two youngsters stepping up was more pleasing to see rather than two experienced guys taking the team through. It was an opportunity for them and they played really well.â
Kohli spoke of Pandya as an asset to the team.
âIt's pretty helpful. All the teams around the world have a fast-bowling all-rounder which gives them a lot of balance. It allows you to play that extra batsman, I guess. Allows you to still play two spinners, two seamers and if the guy is good enough, he does the job for you.
âI think he bowled really well in the first and the third game, even today he picked up three wickets. He bowled in good areas. He was one of the few bowlers who was hitting the deck hard and getting purchase
âWe spoke to him about not being too aggressive or reckless initially and he understands the importance of rotating strike and understanding when to score a boundary or hit the big shot. So he brings great balance to the side, I must say.â
India succumbed to their first defeat to England on a seam-friendly Eden Gardens pitch.
âIf the wicket has grass and the surface is hard, you expect the English bowlers to bowl in better areas. They know how to bowl on these kinds of wickets because they know the amount of seam and bounce needed. They were pretty clever with their lines and lengths they bowled as well,â the skipper said.
âIt was pretty similar to how we bowl on Indian surfaces and how we reverse swing the ball. It's nothing new we faced. We knew it was going to be challenging facing their quick bowlers. That's why I said it's really nice to see two guys step up and take the game
âThey are good enough to counter pace and swing and play positive cricket. The wicket was challenging throughout the day. This series win makes it all the more special that we are up against a side that probably has the best balance going around in ODI cricket, they have people batting till No 10, bowling all-rounders and good quick bowlers.
âWe bowled well till the 45th and we expected them to go hard in the last five. I was pretty happy as a captain with what England scored by the end of 50 overs. With the bat, yes, we could have made partnerships bigger, especially mine and Yuvi. Maybe the game would have been different.â
In the series Indian openers failed to get going, leaving India at a worried position before the Champions Trophy.Â
On being asked about the opening conundrum, Kohli said, âWe have good openers. Sometimes you need to give them games to get back into form. You donât get many players ready for international level. Maybe, it will click at the Champions Trophy, where we first saw Shikhar (Dhawan) and Rohit (Sharma). It is not as if we need to search for openers. We need to back the ones we have.â
The three-match Twenty20I series starts at Kanpur on Jan 26.
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