Virat Kohli & Co. excited to play together for next few years

Virat Kohli on Monday said the prospect of playing together with the same bunch of players for the next few years excites his team after India completed yet another victory over Sri Lanka by a huge margin.

India won the series 3-0, registering their first ever away whitewash after Sri Lanka were bowled out for a mere 181 in the second innings of the third Test at Pallekele. India had enforced follow-on and Sri Lanka continued to struggle against the discipline of the visiting team’s bowlers.

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Over the last three Tests, India generally remained unchallenged but still motivated, and Kohli shared the reason behind this.

“We are a young side. As I mentioned before, we look forward to playing Test cricket, every match, with the same kind of excitement and that is the only way. If you take the foot off the pedal the (other) teams will catch you,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Your team can lose the momentum and the doubt starts to creep in so we like to be prepared beforehand and be proactive rather than reactive; that has worked so far. We have age on our side, we have the opportunity to play together for the next 5-6 years and that really excites us.”

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For Sri Lanka, it was a series full of horror as they could never really pose a threat to India’s domination. Last year, Sri Lanka drubbed Australia by a margin of 3-0 and this defeat to India has certainly sent shockwaves in the country’s cricket fraternity.

When asked about if he would like to convey any message to the rival team which seems to be stuck in a prolonged rebuilding phase, Kohli said, “All of them are super talented players and that is why they are playing for their country, they should be very proud of that.

“We have seen that they have beaten Australia here 3-0, this side is not very different from that. Sometimes a side may have the momentum but sometimes does not. As long as you keep working hard and believe in it as well, the results do come your way,” he added.

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“It is about the belief and doing the same hard work day in and day out regardless of the results. You should not lose hope and motivation because of a few results here and there which is what we believe in as a team. It is cricket, it is a team (game) at the end of the day and those are the principles that we follow,” Kohli concluded.

India and Sri Lanka will now be taking a few days off before they start gearing up for a five-match ODI series, starting August 20 at Dambulla.