Mindset Is Same Under New Support Staff: Virat Kohli After Series Win Over New Zealand

The Virat Kohli-Rahul Dravid era began with a convincing Test series win against New Zealand at home and the India skipper on Monday said team is following the same "mindset" and objective under the new support staff which was being followed under previous dispensation. Former India skipper Dravid replaced Ravi Shastri as head coach while Paras Mhambrey and T Dilip became new bowling and fielding coaches respectively in place of Sanjay Bangar and R Sridhar. "The mindset is the same to take Indian cricket forward, even with the new management. It's important to keep the standards of Indian cricket and make sure it's always growing," Kohli said after India hammered by 372 runs in the second Test.

Kohli and Shastri made a successful captain-coach combination, winning several Test series abroad.

Kohli said the overseas success in England and Australia has made the team richer in experience and they would like to build on that with a maiden Test series win in South Africa in the upcoming away contest.

India have won three Tests in South Africa since 1992 but are yet to win a series. They lost 1-2 in 2017-18.

"It's a good challenge in South Africa. That was the start of our perseverance to build abroad, Australia was an accumulation of those efforts. We have the belief we can win anywhere," Kohli said

"It's a tough challenge, something we want to achieve, everyone's motivated. Hopefully we can play in South Africa the way we know we can play, and win the series."

Talking about the Mumbai Test, Kohli said the surface at Wankhede provided more assistance to the bowlers than Kanpur where the two teams played out an exciting draw on day five.

Kohli was rested for the series opener.

"To come back with a win again, it's a great feeling and a clinical performance. You want individuals to step up. The first Test was good, and it was a clinical performance here. We discussed the performance and the opposition played out a good draw.

"The bowlers tried all their best, but the Kiwi batsmen stuck it out really well in Kanpur. Here there was more bounce and the fast bowlers got assistance as well, so it gave us a better chance to win the Test match."

First innings collapse pegged us back: Tom Latham

New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said they were always up against it after getting bowled out for 62 in the first innings.

"A disappointing performance from us. Credit to India for putting up a great performance. 62 all-out would always have set us back. You always want to bat first here, and it only gets worse for batting, and it wasn't how we wanted it to pan out.

"Guys are able to step up in different conditions and we have managed to get a lot of depth. Very special game for Ajaz, only the third time in the history of the game has a man got all ten," said the southpaw.

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Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team Virat Kohli Rahul Dravid Tom Latham Wankhede India vs New Zealand 2021 Cricket India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test