Port of Spain:Ahead of his side’s fourth and the final Test match against West indies, skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday called on his side to keep playing good cricket for a sustained period of time if they want to become the number one team in true sense.
India dethroned Australia as a top-ranked Test nation after Sri Lanka completed a clean sweep of the three-match series against the Steve Smith-led side in Colombo.
India, however, have to beat the Caribbean side in the final Test at Queen’s Park Oval in order to maintain their top spot.
“Even last year, when we beat South Africa, because of some other team losing, we became number one for a brief period. To really become the best team in the world, we need to play consistent cricket for a span of 3-4 years. This is pretty immediate and short-term incentive .You need to play good cricket for sustained period of time to actually be a number one team in the world,” Kohli told the reporters.
Kohli, however, said that his side were not reading too much into the newly acquired number one ranking and were only looking forward to their fourth Test, beginning from Thursday.
“It’s a nice incentive but it doesn’t really change anything for the team. Our goal has been to play good cricket and we’ve done that in the past one year or so. And we want to continue with the same.We have played good cricket that’s why we have climbed up the rankings, but if you see we have played lesser number of games than the other teams. The more games we play, then only we could be judged. So far, we have been really good. But I think only at the end of the season, we can look back how we have played and then figure out where we really stand,” insisted the 27-year-old.
While the visitors will be looking to maintain their dominance over West Indies, Kohli said that he is ready to change his position as per the situation demands.
“If we’re playing five batsmen and if we are looking to bat someone at five, then obviously the batting order we played in the last game works. When we play six batsmen and four bowlers, in home conditions maybe, then the combination becomes different. But we are open to both. For me the mindset matter when I go for bat. It can be any position. If you are mentally feeling good then more often you will be able to execute,” he added.
Earlier, India had taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match Test series against the Caribbean side following a massive 243-run win in the third Test in St.Lucia. The visitors won the first Test by an innings and 92 runs while the second match ended in a draw.(ANI)