Rankings do not matter, says Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli has captained India’s Test side for three series now, and while he has won two of them, the first being in Sri Lanka and the second at home in the recently concluded series against South Africa, he has earned plaudits for his captaincy in Australia as well. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo about India’s jump to No.2 in the test rankings, Kohli says the resurgence of his young test Team began in Australia.
“Test cricket has been one format where we all have wanted to do well," Kohli said after the win. "Like to give credit to the team to show character and bounce back in last two series like the way we have. I feel that it all began in Australia for us, the way we played there.
“Showed character even in defeats. [They were] Not one-sided defeats. We were always on opposition's heels, [we felt] that we could cash in on any stage. That gave us a lot of belief as a Test team. We can play well around the world” Kohli said.
India battled hard against Australia last year, drawing two Tests and almost winning the first Test at Adelaide. Kohli meanwhile, took all the positives from that tour and went to Sri Lanka winning the 3 match series 2-1, despite losing the first Test.
That form has carried on as he dispatched the best Test team in the world in South Africa and Kohli is clearly delighted about it.
"It [such a big win] has a positive and huge impact on the mindset of players," he said. "It all started in Australia as the kind of belief we went there and the kind of cricket that we played there, it gave us the confidence that we can beat any side in the world.
“That sort of mindset is important to win Tests and series. If you win one Test match, it can turn around pretty quickly. We saw that in Sri Lanka, that was a major boost for our mental set-up. This is the icing on the cake.”
India are now the No.2 ranked side in the world, speaking of the achievement, Kohli says that rankings do not particularly matter to him.
"Rankings do not matter to me neither do they matter to the particular squad right now," he said. "Keep performing well, obviously rankings will go up. You don't play for that. Obviously it's an incentive, which we don't aim for, but we want to play good cricket and be a good Test side. Rest of the things can follow.”