India vs Australia | You cannot take any side for granted, asserts Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is adamant that the Indian team will not take their opponents for granted as they get ready to play Australia in the series opener at the Adelaide Oval from December 6 onwards. The Indian skipper also backed his bowling unit to perform well in tough Australian conditions this month.
Team India will enter the four-match Test series against Australia as firm
However, the 30-year old batsman played down reports suggesting that India will face an easy task against a weakened Aussie side missing the likes of star pair - Steven Smith and David Warner.
“I personally don’t think any Australian side is vulnerable at home. You cannot take any side for granted and more so Australia in Australia. Whatever happened, the skill level is still there, you have to respect that. However much you talk or behave, it’s your skill that counts.
“They certainly still have the skill to dominate at home. We’re not taking anything for granted. We are not expecting them to play in a certain manner, we are just focussing on our skills and the things we need to do right, first. We want to correct things that we didn’t do well in our last two tours,” Kohli said at his pre-match press conference.
India opted to hold back the naming of their final XI until the morning of the Test as the leadership team will make a call on whether to go with Hanuma Vihari or Rohit Sharma.
Meanwhile, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah will lead their pace attack along with Ravichandran Ashwin as Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav failed to make the matchday squad.
Kohli, who scored a total of 992 runs in eight matches on Australian soil averaging 62, backed his bowlers to put in a strong performance despite the tough conditions down under.
“I think it’s pretty different from the last time we came here, there is much more experience and the guys are fitter than they were last time. In Australia, the key is to bowl in good areas for longer periods, and the conditions become hard when it gets hot, the pitches can be flat purely because of the Kookaburra ball not doing much after 20-odd overs until it reverses around the 45-50 overs.
“The guys (bowlers) feel that they are at the peak of their skill levels at the moment and they are looking forward to this challenge. The bowlers are of the mindset that whatever the conditions or however hard it might be, they are just looking forward to performing,” the Indian skipper added.
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