Team India over the last four years have been one of the most consistent teams in the Test format. With two consecutive series wins in Australia, a 2-1 lead in England and finishing as runner-ups of inaugural World Test Championship (WTC), Virat Kohli spoke exclusively on the team’s journey since 2014.
Historically known for producing exceptional batters and highly skilled spinners, producing a quality pace attack was always a concern for India. In the last 36 months Indian pacers have wreaked havoc in every country they have played in and it has been one of the main reasons for team India’s success in the red-ball format.
“When I took over, we were No 7 Test team and now we are No 1 for the last four-five years. I laid down a vision and a path to follow. We had to play with high intensity every day, every match to stay at that level. We have such a good pace attack that we are confused before every match on who to play. We take a lot of pride in that. Our Test performance is down to our pacers,” said Virat Kohli during the pre-match press conference on January 10.
The 33-year-old hasn’t scored an international ton since November 2019 and the burning question is when the wait will end. The spotlight will be on Kohli when he takes the field at Newlands, Cape Town as his form in the last couple of years hasn’t been magnificent.
“It is important to manage workload” said Kohli.
Team India have been on the road for a while now and captain Kohli mentioned the importance of workload management during the press conference. Since the England tour, India have played the Indian Premier League (IPL), T20 World Cup 2021, a home series against New Zealand and are currently touring South Africa.
“We have been playing a lot of cricket. It is important to manage workload and that is you see a few niggles in players every now and then.” Kohli said.
Injuries are a concern for team India. Men in blue struggled with fitness and injury concerns throughout the Australia series. With Mohammad Siraj out for the final Test, the question of workload management arises again.
After missing the second Test at the Wanderers due to an upper back spasm, Indian skipper is set to return in the final Test of the series. With the series being poised at 1-1, the Cape Town Test, which gets underway on January 11, is staged for a decider. Kohli regaining fitness is certainly a massive boost for the team as Proteas bowlers have been mighty impressive in this series.
