Recent times India is struggling against spinners. Last year, Sri Lankan spinner Rangan Herath gave trouble to Indian batsmen during the Galle Test. India were all out for112. They did not chase 176 runs.
Captain Virat Kohli is not worried about the Indian Test team’s recent struggle against spinners. He thinks hey are surely working on this aspect since a side that aspires to be a champion.
It is expected that the Green Park pitch in Kanpur will assist spinners. “I think it’s not a concern. It is an area where we can improve,” Kohli said.
Kohli argued that they lost the Galle Test in Sri Lanka because they could not play spin as they would have liked. “We did not execute our batting plans, but we rectified that. The team wants to improve on that aspect of the game, something we surely need to get strong. So much was build up (in media). We countered conditions really well away from home — England, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, we focused on pace, so we didn’t pay that much attention to spin,” he said.
“Now we are putting in more efforts to bat against the spinners longer. We are practicing the small little things. We are covering all bases because if you want to be a champion side, you don’t want to give the opposition any window to get into the game and that’s an area that needs to be worked on through the course of this season. Good thing is that we are playing a lot of Test cricket,” he said.
Kohli said the current side has all the ingredients to be a dominating side in the world.
“We believe we certainly have what it takes to be the best in the world. One area where we have tapped into is belief. A lot of young players coming into can lack belief, there could be a lot of insecurities, whether I’ll play in the next game or whether my position is settled or not. So, it’s all about getting rid of all those feelings.”
“When you step into the pitch, you need to tell yourself that I own this position for next 10 years for India in Tests, that’s how you can be confident and stress-free. That’s how you can express yourself and that’s what this team has been able to do. You want to play bold cricket, take risks,” said Kohli.