Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
India skipper Virat Kohli on Friday said that he doesn’t want the team to be tentative while batting first.
Notably, India on Friday outplayed Sri Lanka by 78 runs in the third and final T20I at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune to win series 2-0.
Batting first, India made 201 for 6 before dismissing Sri Lanka for 123 to complete the comprehensive win.
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“We don’t want to be a team that is tentative batting first. How confident we are batting second, we want to be like that batting first as well,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation ceremony as quoted by IANS.
“The confidence of getting that 200-run mark every now and then will put us in a good stead,” added the skipper.
At a point in the match, India were 164 for 6 and were looking to be bundled out, but Shardul Thakur (22* off 8) and Manish Pandey (31* off 18) took Men in Blue over the 200-run mark.
“The middle order collapse was challenging but what Manish (Pandey) and Shardul (Thakur) did was very good,” said Kohli.
“We require more of this in the coming games as well to see who are the guys putting their hands up when the senior guys don’t get runs,” he added.
India face Australia next in the three-match ODI series between the sides starting January 14 in Mumbai.
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