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Virat Kohli says win at Wanderers vs South Africa ‘massive milestone’ in India’s journey
Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli said there was no doubt in the players’ minds that they won’t be able to pull off a victory in the third Test vs South Africa cricket team despite a resilient 119-run partnership between Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar.
India cricket team captain Virat Kohli feels victory at the Wanderers could prove to be a big cornerstone in the side’s journey from being dominant at home to a force outside Asia. “Massive, it could be a massive milestone for us,” said Kohli, when asked what kind of a role could this victory play. (SOUTH AFRICA vs INDIA 3rd TEST DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS)
“We already had the belief but now we have the result to back it up,” said the Indian skipper.
“We certainly believe that any conditions we are given we certainly have it in our abilities to think about winning Test matches, yes we will lose some but we will end up winning a lot as well,” he added. “This day will be remembered for a long time as a team. I believe that and the whole team believes that and the mood in the change room is amazing right now. And you know the guys are looking forward to repeating this much more in conditions that are not ours.” (SOUTH AFRICA vs INDIA 3rd TEST DAY 4 SCOREBOARD)
Kohli said there was no doubt in their minds that they won’t be able to pull off a victory despite a resilient 119-run partnership between Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar.
“Well I wasn’t concerned. We played out two innings, we got hit at numerous occasions and we did not make anything of it. You know we carried on. We knew we were going to be hit but you need to show character, you cannot say that it’s tough or doing too much,” said Kohli.
“We are playing in Johannesburg not in India so we had to come out here and deal with what was given to us and we have dealt with it pretty well. I wasn’t concerned at all because the ball was in SA’s court. They had to make a decision. Our decision was to play at all times and that didn’t change through the course of four days,” he added.
The knowledge that South Africa had a similar collapse in Cape Town also helped. Only then, Kohli had to bat last. Here though, the Indian captain knew the pressure was on South Africa to stay calm.
“There could be a pattern that could be going on as well. We got stuck into them in the second innings at Cape Town. Then they had a collapse in Centurion as well in the first innings. So we knew that if we get a couple of wickets the same thing can be repeated. Because as a batsman you are certainly reminded of the collapses that you have had and you don’t want to repeat that,” he said.
This series lived up to the expectations, though, at one time there were fears that the need to settle scores might take it too far. But Kohli said the mutual respect is still intact.
“We don’t see anyone talking ill about the other team, they give credit to us when we do well and we give credit to them when they do well. Lot of these guys play with us in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well so we know them really well also. But when you step out as a team there is no friendships there, there is only competition,” he said.
“But when you step off it they are lovely guys and we have no issues at all, the teams know each other really well. And it is exciting for world cricket and that’s why this win was important for us also because we are the No.1 side in the world and we played like that today. So given a tough competition from the no.2 side in their own conditions, we showed character and am sure the public enjoyed watching this series as well.”
