Series win more satisfying with Smith and Warner in opposition, reveals Virat Kohli
India chased down the target of 287 quite comfortably with 7 wickets in hand and completed a 2-1 series win over Australia on Sunday. Skipper Virat Kohli was extremely satisfied with the team's efforts and felt that victory over an Australian side comprising of StevSmith and David Warner was the icing on the cake.
India had lost the ODI series 2-3 at home the last time Australia toured India in March 2019 and that loss hurt Kohli because it was a depleted Australian side, which made this series win all the sweeter.
"Australia were even better than last time. There's Steve (Smith), David (Warner) and Marnus (Labuschagne). A quality bowling attack and they were really intense in the field too. We lost the last three in the last series, and coming back and winning the last two games after losing the first one, is very satisfying," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"We just want to go upwards and onwards. Getting one back given that we lost the series at home last year is really satisfying," he further added.
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Having already lost a batsman of the caliber of Shikhar Dhawan due to injury, Kohli knew that he had to bat sensibly with Rohit Sharma once Rahul's wicket fell. Both showed in their approach why they are termed world-class batsmen.
"We (Kohli and Rohit) spoke of stringing together a partnership and all Australia want are wickets and if we don't give them wickets we can chase 7-8 runs an over later on. We have that belief in our skill. Rohit played beautifully today, anchored the innings before I took over," Kohli stated.
Rohit smashed a brilliant 119 while Kohli made 89 before Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey applied finishing touches to what was a fantastic Indian win. India now travel to New Zealand for a long tour which will have the T20I series beginning from January 24.
