Indian skipper Virat Kohli has declared that his side will look to play “attacking cricket” preferably with “five specialist bowlers” in order to set the tone for the four-match Test series against the West Indies.
“I am always in the favour of playing five bowlers because if we play more batsmen, you can score 700 runs in a Test but that doesn’t help in any way. You need to take 20 wickets to win a Test match. So our top five batsmen plus the wicketkeeper will have to take responsibility and raise a big score so that we can bowl them out twice,” Kohli said at the pre-match press conference.
“Even if we do need put on a big score, we need to get enough runs so that we don’t need to bat for long the second time. This has been our mindset for the last two seasons and we want to start the series with that same mind set that our bowling should be strong enough to take 20 wickets,” Kohli added.
Kohli said that he has a combination in mind but will not reveal it.
“We have a combination in our mind, but I cannot really disclose that now. But we have learnt from the past after playing in Australia and Sri lanka. We have learnt that we need to attack from the first Test itself and set the tone for the series. Therefore our strongest bowling unit needs to and as a batting line-up, we need to take responsibility.”
Kohli has words of praise for Mohammed Shami, who is coming back from an injury.
“Shami was unfortunately injured while he was having a great season. He bowled well in England, in Australia and in the World Cup, and in fact he has bowled well wherever he has gone. He got injured after that and was on a massive break.
“But now he is back and he is bowling very well. He has the ability to get batsmen out at any stage of the game which is very pleasing in Test cricket and important for a captain.
“So Shami being back in the side obviously gives us a lot of options as he can bowl with the new and old ball, bowl reverse swing, and he can come round the wicket, use bouncers and use his space well. I think as a fast bowler he is a complete package,” he added, hinting about the inclusion of the returning fast bowler to partner Ishant.
The skipper while concluding said that the team has learnt from the mistakes committed in the past.
“We know where to improve and identify it quickly. We have committed some mistakes we cannot afford in Test cricket if you want to be a champion side. So we have tried to focus on key moments, and this comes with experience. The players are willing to learn and we will see this in coming series as well,” he signed off.