Virat Kohli-led Indian team defeated Sri Lanka by 9 wickets in first ODI. (Source: AP)
India are all set to take on Sri Lanka in the second match of the five-match series at Pallekele. After thumping the hosts by 9 wickets, The Virat Kohli-led side would now be eyeing to stretch their lead in this second encounter and the Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday hinted on continuing with the same team combination as first ODI.
“Wicket similar to Dambulla. I don’t see any reason to change team just after 1 game but everything and any combination is possible,” said Virat Kohli.
Kohli also talked about the roles of the players in the team, he said that the upcoming season is an opportunity for every member to define their roles.
This coming season gives us an opportunity to define roles for players and give them time to execute it so that for the World Cup, we know exactly what one player needs to do in certain situations,” Kohli told
“And it helps someone like MS also because he doesn’t play Test cricket anymore. This long streak of matches will help him be in touch with the international games, find some momentum and stick to it,” Kohli added.
“So it’s an opportunity for everyone in the team including MS to create good habits and sustain them over a period of time,” the skipper said.
Axar Patel was picked up in the playing XI in first match of the series in Dambulla and speaking about opting for Patel over Kuldeep Yadav, Kohli told that apart from his bowling, Axar is good with the bat as well as pretty good in the field.
“It was a case of having two left-arm spinners that led us not playing Kuldeep in the first game. Axar was favoured more than Kuldeep from the point of view that he bats quite well and he is a gun (great) in the field also. Kuldeep has got opportunities in the past,” he said.
“(Yuzvendra) Chahal and Axar are guys who haven’t got many opportunities so we want to test them out. It’s all about giving opportunities to people which we feel will not hamper our plans in any way and at the same time, it’s about giving them exposure at international cricket,” he further added.
Mentioning Kuldeep’s abilities, Virat suggested that a player like him is always a “boost” for the team.
“Kuldeep remains in the thick of things all the time. To have a guy like that in the team is always a boost. You might see two wrist spinners playing together if we feel that we don’t need that much depth in the batting in the coming games,” said the skipper.
The Indian skipper also talked about Hardik Pandya and how consistent he is with the ball.
“Hardik has the ability to swing the ball and he can bowl consistently over 135 km/hr. With the new ball, he can get a bit of extra bounce because of his height. He has bowled with the new ball in India against England and against New Zealand in a few games as well. We certainly look at it as a great option for us,” he said.
“Being the fifth bowler in the team, we can get four-five overs out of the way in the first 10, when the ball is swinging. Also Jasprit Bumrah is our strike bowler and he comes in one-change. The teams obviously will be a bit more wary against him so that really gives us good balance in terms of whom to use when,” he added.
