Melbourne:
India’s premier batsman Virat Kohli today declared that after experimenting with his batting position, the team management has reached a conclusion that number three is the best slot for him in the World Cup.
“I’ve played enough number of games to try and experiment batting position for the team to be in the best combination possible, but we figured out that it’s best for me to bat at number three which I’ve done over the last few years, and we have got success because me or one of the top three batsmen has been able to bat through,” Kohli told media-persons on the eve of the match against South Africa.
However, Kohli is dead against it being termed as a failed experiment.
“We were trying to figure out the best combination for the team. People really need to have some patience with something that we try to do. We do a few experiments, and if they don’t pay off, it’s regarded as something which is going to be our downfall. We don’t think like that,” he said.
“Unless you try, you would never know if you’re right or wrong. You make mistakes and you have to learn from them, and that was one situation where we wanted to try things out, and we could not have done it at any time apart from the tri-Series, and yeah, that was the main plan behind it,” Kohli said, defending the decision to use him as a floater between numbers three and four during the ODI tri-series.
Asked if this musical chair affected his batting? Kohli retorted instantly.
“No, it did not affect my batting at all. If you do well regularly, people want you to play well in every game. I can’t virtually score a century in every game that I play. As long as I know what I’m doing with my batting and the kind of mindset I’m in, I’m not really worried about anything else.”
Talking about tomorrow’s game against South Africa, Kohli was asked if it will be a true test of India’s attack and he replied, “Which game is not?”
“For us, every game is apparently a test. Even when we play more weaker sides, we always talk about what if they upset us. I’m not really thinking about all that. It’s a game of cricket. I always maintain that you play a game of cricket with bat in hand and ball in hand, and that’s all there is to it.
