Success has been Virat Kohli’s shadow since the defeat in Galle in the first half of August 2015.Since then, India have upstaged Sri Lanka 2-1, South Africa 3-0, West Indies 2-0, New Zealand 3-0, England 4-0 and now Bangladesh 1-0. Kohli, the new captain across formats, has learnt his lessons along the way.”Honestly, it is the players that make you the captain that you become,” he said after leading his team to a 208run rout of Bangladesh on Monday .
“Anyone knows how to set fields on the ground. It’s just that you make sure you have the responsibility of keeping the energy of the team up.The bowlers know what they need to do but the fielders within the ring need to support the bowlers. I need to do that first, for the guys to show that energy . A lot of times, there is only so much that a captain can do. Before, I would be a bit relentless with fields, but now I understand better. That’s something I have learnt and hopefully we will take it forward.”
He said the hosts allowed the game to drift. “The only thing we could have done better is close the second innings quickly. There was a lapse in body language when they were eight down. We should have taken the chances and finished the game 45 minutes before what we actually did.
We need to improve. Closing off games is important, especially in Test cricket. You don’t want to give opposition any chance to get into the game. That’s something we need to keep re peating as a team.”