CUTTACK: India’s stand-in captain Virat Kohli is relishing the challenge. In his own admission, it gives him opportunity to test himself. He keeps learning about the job from M S Dhoni. On the eve of the first ODI against Sri Lanka, Kohli spoke about his leadership ability and his performance.
On captaincy: I like leading the side. It gives me an opportunity to test myself in different aspects. Having a young side is always exciting. There’s a lot you can achieve, find out, experiment. Having that excitement and energy on the field is pleasing for a captain. I’m glad to have a group that can perform. I relish this challenge.
On tips he received from Dhoni: I try to learn as much as I can. Like batting, people have different captaincy styles as well. It’s nice to speak to him about situations and get explanations.
On his lean period and how he regained form: I worked on fitness. There were talks about bad phase. I don’t know how I got 25 hundreds with the same technique! Yes, there are things that I worked on. It’s just been a process to get my confidence back. It’s much about mentally and not technique as otherwise, you start spoiling your game. It’s not a nice thing to break down the whole batting when something has been working for you. Something that I’ve done is to work on my confidence.
On missing Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami: They are regular members of the XI, especially Bhuvi and Shami. Obviously MS has been leading the side for quite a long time. Their experience is always valuable. But at the same time, it would be an opportunity for guys like (Wriddhiman) Saha, Varun Aaron to cement places.
On the composition of the team: There can be a lot of changes, a lot of twists and turns in the XI. Going ahead, everyone wants to do well knowing that the World Cup is not far away. So this is an opportunity for all these guys to step in and make an impact and make a strong case for themselves.