Looking ahead but still drawing lessons from the past, Virat Kohli said that the 2015 series here which India won 2-1 laid the base for its subsequent rise.
In the press-conference ahead of the first Test, the India captain stressed that his is a happy team focused on winning games. Excerpts:
The coach’s corner: We have spoken enough about these issues and it is something that we are not focusing on at all now. We are just looking forward to the cricket.
Surface tension: The surface looks very hard, there is grass covering it to keep the surface bound up, it should be a very good batting track.
The opening ambit: Rohit (Sharma) has never opened in Test cricket and we don’t see that kind of experiment happening here because we have specialist openers in the team and they will obviously be starting this game.
The 2015 series: It’s pretty different sitting here two years after that particular series which was very important in us coming together as a team and believing that we can win series and not just matches.
So it was the beginning of that mindset and we were able to build on that in the last couple of years, training a certain way, thinking about the game a certain way, playing together as a team a certain way, I think we have built a really good base. We are pretty humble in our preparations and do the hard yards every game that we play.
Countering Herath: He is a quality bowler. Last time he really dented us in that small chase (at Galle).
We worked on those things in the next two games and we were able to win the series.
He played both the games and the ball was still doing a bit. So we understand what he brings to the table and what needs to be done.
Hardik Pandya’s value: Last time we felt in the first Test that we played here [that] we probably were a batsman short and the fifth bowler didn’t do much in the game.
We have those options open as well. We have great balance in the side. We’ve got a guy like Hardik Pandya who is a wicket-taking bowler. Every game that he plays, on any surface, he has a knack of picking wickets. He has a great chance of playing as well.
Happy unit: The bond within the team is outstanding and that is something that makes me really proud.
Even in the most difficult of situations all the guys believe that we can do it together and we have been able to overturn situations more often than not just because of that belief.