With resounding wins in the first two matches, India look a far more superior side in the series than their opposition, Sri Lanka. Their six-wicket and 169-run wins in Cuttack and Ahmedabad respectively, were clinical and comprehensive. However, captain, Virat Kohli, is hungry for more.
For him this series is not an end but a means to an end. While in-charge of the team, Virat wants to build a culture of “ruthlessness” within the team. He doesn’t only want to win matches but improve the margin of victory each time.
For that, the young captain feels it is important to continuously iron out even the minutest of flaws that may have been evident in the previous match. So, ahead of the third ODI in Hyderabad, Virat stressed on the need to not be “casual” no matter how comfortably placed.
“I think when you’re winning, it’s more important to underline the things you want to improve on – the things that did not go right in the last game,” Virat said.
“What we are trying to achieve now is ruthlessness. In the past it has happened many times where we have picked eight wickets and let the last two players get away with it.
“What we have decided as a team now is to put our foot on the pedal and not let the oppositions get away with anything.
“If you want to be ruthless, if you want to have big, convincing wins, it is very important to address the issues that you faced in a resounding win as well, so that you can increase the margin of victory in the next game.”
With his mind firmly on the World Cup, Virat has already started to think in terms of must-win situations. He feels that in order to prepare the team mentally for the knockout stages of the World Cup, the minds need to be groomed now, by taking every match as a knockout match.
“We are taking every match like a knockout game and looking to win each of them,” Virat said. “That’s the kind of mindset we want to build going into a tournament like the World Cup where in the knockout stage, one bad game can have you out of the tournament.”
Virat wants his boys to be so closely connected, in sync with each other, secured and confident in their own abilities so as to take the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses out of the equation.
“It doesn’t matter what the other team is feeling and what their weaknesses are. If we take care of our areas of concerns, the opposition doesn’t matter.
“That’s the kind of culture and belief we are trying to build in this team – the one where we are so confident in our own group that we don’t need to look away from it.
“The further you run away from your own core group, the more pressure you invite. So, it’s more about staying closer as a group and working on our strengths and flaws.
“This series and the tri-series in Australia is a chance for us to test ourselves and create targets for ourselves rather than worrying about the oppositions,” the skipper said.
Staying true to his words, Virat has been testing different batsmen at different positions in this series. The two most significant moves were relinquishing his regular No. 3 position and sending Suresh Raina and then Ambati Rayudu one-down respectively in the first two matches.
Rayudu vindicated Virat’s decision by scoring his maiden ODI century – unbeaten 121 off 118 balls in Ahmedabad – eliciting high praise from his captain.
“He was quite brilliant at the No. 3 slot,” Virat said of the Hyderabad batsman. “It’s about recognizing the players who can bat through for you and Rayudu is one such player. He has the skill-set to take the team through so the people coming in the middle order can bat around him.
“I think it was a great show of the temperament, character and class that he possesses. This is something he probably should have had about 10-11 years back and so he is very hungry to prove himself.
“All we wanted to do was give him enough time to do that. He is a special batsman and a gutsy fellow. If we give him confidence, a player like him can face any bowling attack anywhere in the world. You just have to back him and ensure that he remains in a good, comfortable space.”
