"We Prioritise The Team First": Virat Kohli Coy On Team Selection Dilemma Ahead Of Mumbai Test

India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday explained why he started to practice at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai for the Test series against New Zealand even when he had taken some time off from the game after spending six-months in bio-bubbles. The second Test between India and New Zealand will begin on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai with the series being locked at 0-0. The game will see the return of India skipper Virat Kohli, however, his comeback has left some selection dilemma for the hosts.

"It was just to stay in the rhythm of playing red-ball cricket. The idea was to get repetition and volume which is important in Test cricket, so it is just about getting into the mould of switching between formats. This is something I have always tried to do. Whenever I get the opportunity to work on setting up for different formats, it is more so mentally than anything related to technique," said Kohli while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference.

"The more cricket you play, the more you understand your game better. It is about getting into the mindset, that headspace where you want to play a certain way in a certain format," he added.

With Shreyas Iyer becoming the first Indian to score a century and half-century in his debut Test, dropping him would be a little difficult and with the poor form of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, the choice has been made all the more difficult on who should go out of the XI to make way for Kohli.

"You have to understand the situation of where the team is placed, you have to understand where individuals stand. You have to communicate well, speak to the individuals and approach them in a way, explain things clearly. We have made changes in the past looking at combination, we have explained to individuals and they have understood our mindset behind going in with certain combination," said Kohli.

"It is not a difficult thing to do, there is collective trust and belief within the group. Along the way, there are ups and downs, but we understand that as sportspersons. At the end of the day, we all prioritize the team first and this is something we have done consistently. As a Test team, we have backed the set of players who have done the job for the team in the last 5-6 years and we will continue to do that. There have always been players on who we have relied upon and they have done the job for the team," he added.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team India vs New Zealand 2021 India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test Cricket