After a convincing win over Sri Lanka in the first ODI, Team India is all set to play the second ODI at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy. It was yet again a dominant performance by the visiting team and the Indian Captain, Virat Kohli hints at playing the same eleven for the 2nd ODI too.
“I haven’t had a look at the wicket yet, but if the wicket is similar to Dambulla, I don’t see any reason to change the team just after one game. The first ODI was a perfect game for us. We came back into the game beautifully and then we consolidated it with the bat. We looked really sharp in the field as well and I’m happy with how we went in the first game.”
With the Indian team set to play a long streak of limited overs cricket for a while, Virat feels that it is a great opportunity to create momentum like the team has done in Test cricket.
“It’s a great opportunity for us as a team to play limited overs cricket for a while. For the last year and a half, we haven’t played much limited overs cricket and maybe that’s the reason why we haven’t been as consistent in the shorter formats,” he adds.
“This coming season gives us an opportunity to define roles for players and give them time to execute it so that for the World Cup we know exactly what one player needs to do in certain situations. And it is not going to be anything that we have done in the past and we will not be predictable anymore,” adds Virat.
While the last season was packed with Test cricket and the Indian team did not play too much limited overs cricket, the long streak of limited overs cricket will be a great opportunity for MS Dhoni to find his mojo back. “And it helps someone like MS Dhoni because he does not play Test cricket anymore and this long streak of matches will help him to be in touch with the international games and finding some momentum and sticking to it. So, it’s an opportunity for everyone in the team including MS to create good habits and sustain them over a period of time,” Virat informs.
Axar Patel who was selected over Kuldeep Yadav in the first ODI is a complete package and is a more utility player and which is why he made it to the Playing XI in the first game. “It was a case of playing two left-armers that led us to not play Kuldeep in the first game. Axar was favoured more than Kuldeep from the points of view that he bats quite well and he's a gun in the field also. Chahal and Axar are guys who haven't got many opportunities, so we want to test them out also,’ he adds.
But Kuldeep very much remains in the thick of things. “Kuldeep remains in the thick of things all the time. To have a guy like that in the team is always a boost. You might see two wrist spinners playing together if we feel that we don't need that much depth in the batting in the coming games,” says the skipper.
When asked about the possibility of making Hardik Pandya open the bowling attack as he did at Dambulla, the Indian skipper replied saying that it was quite possible.
“Hardik has the ability to swing the ball and he can bowl consistently over 135 kmph. With the new ball, he can get a bit of extra bounce because of his height. He has bowled with the new ball in India against England and in a few games against New Zealand. We certainly look at it as a great option for us. “Being the fifth bowler in the team, we can get four-five overs out of him when the ball is swinging. Also, Jasprit Bumrah is our strike bowler and he comes in one-change. The teams obviously will be a bit warier against him so that really gives us good balance in terms of who to use when.”
