Sri Lanka vs India 2017: Winning the Series with a Clean Sweep Makes us Really Proud as a Team – Virat Kohli

Jan 9, 2019 at 4:03 PM

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Sri Lanka vs India 2017: Winning the Series with a Clean Sweep Makes us Really Proud as a Team – Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli added some more glitter to his already impressive captaincy record, as he led the team to a crushing innings and 171 runs win over Sri Lanka inside three days to complete India’s first three-Test series sweep on foreign soil.

The juggernaut that started a couple of years ago in this very country with an impressive come from behind win is just rolling on, annihilating the opposition and consolidating India’s status as the best Test team in the world.

Credits: AFP

After posting a daunting 487, India bowled out the out-of-sorts hosts for a paltry 135 in the first innings before enforcing the follow-on. Sri Lanka had resisted well in the second Test while following-on but the world number one Test team quickly learned from its mistakes and never allowed the Islanders to put up a similar resistance this time around, as Dinesh Chandimal & Co. were bowled out for just 181.

Delighted with the impressive win, Kohli said depth in the team has been the pillar of his team’s unprecedented success over the last couple of years or so. Kohli also showered his praise over the fast-bowlers. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav shared eight wickets between them in the match and were instrumental in the win.

“I would like to believe that has been our strength in the last couple of years. That’s why we’ve been able to get the results that we have because we have played different players on different occasions but everyone has been fit and ready to come and do the job. Mostly we have played people depending on the conditions where we feel they will be most effective,” Kohli said at the post-match press conference.

Shami and Umesh have done really well in the last home season as well for us, both with the new and old balls. That’s the reason we backed them in this series also. It’s great to see both of them still bowling with a lot of heart and putting in that effort. In the last Test and even today the way Shami bowled, it was great to watch. You can see the desire to make something happen for the team. Actually, the breakthroughs from the fast bowlers in the last home season as well was key for us. That depth has really helped us capitalise more situations in favour of the team and end up winning Test matches and series. That you can say has been the defining factor,” he added.

Credits: AFP

The 28-year-old further declined to accept that the win over Sri Lanka reflected India’s true might and also insisted that barring the second Test, toss did not play a significant role in deciding the outcome of the series.

No, I don’t think so. I feel that we played really good cricket. We won all three tosses. Looking at the nature of the pitches that was a massive factor as well. I believe in the second Test we would have faced more pressure if we had not won the toss because of the way the wicket played from the second day onwards. All those things you have to take into account and look at the larger picture. From that point of view, I think we’ve played really good cricket to win 3-0. We put constant pressure on the opposition to make sure we win more sessions during a Test match and that has led us to win the series with a clean sweep. It makes us really proud as a team.

I wouldn’t say right throughout. The second game it was more crucial. This pitch as well changed in a way that it was dangerous to bat. I think we had enough runs on the board. I think the innings by Hardik changed the mindset of the opposition, they probably thought they’ve given 100 runs too many. After being 320 for 6 we ended up getting 490. That always puts some kind of doubt in the opposition’s mind,” he added.

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