Bengaluru: India captain Virat Kohli says he is benefiting from the immense experience of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in taking decisions in the limited overs format, which is relatively new for him in terms of leadership.
India claimed the T20 series 2-1 after a comprehensive 75-run win in the third and final T20, on Wednesday.
“Although I have captained in the Test format for a while, ODI and T20 games move very fast. So to take advice from a person (Dhoni) who has captained the side at this level for so long and understands the game really well is never a bad idea in crucial situations,” Kohli said.
The young captain disclosed that he wanted Hardik Pandya to bowl after star-performer Yuzvendra Chahal’s quota was over but was advised by Dhoni and Ashish Nehra to hand the ball to Jasprit Bumrah, who scalped two wickets in three balls to finish the game.
“Bringing on Bumrah right after that over from Chahal, I was thinking of giving (Hardik) Pandya another over instead. (Dhoni and Nehra) suggested that let’s not wait till the 19th over and instead bring on the main bowlers. So these things really help when you are a new captain in the limited-overs format.
“But again, I am not new to captaincy, but there has to be a balance between understanding the skills needed to lead in shorter formats. MS has been helping a lot on that front.”
Kohli said the Indian team, which has many youngsters, has made a very fast progress.
“We got the results we wanted. Obviously winning all three series feels really, really good right now because we’re up against a top-quality side. We understand that and to come on top after the end of all three series is a great feeling altogether knowing that we didn’t have that much experience in our teams.
“The Test team is almost as good as new. Even in the one-day circuit, we have 3-4 experienced guys, but rest of the guys who stepped up are all youngsters, which is, I think, is a massive, massive boost for Indian cricket,” he said.
Kohli said the biggest takeaway for winning all three series for the team was the “youngsters were hungry to win matches for the team instead focusing on individual performances.”
Kohli said wickets in the middle overs by spinner Yajuvendra Chahal made the job easy for them.
“If we don’t get wickets in middle overs any total is chaseable in Bengaluru. No total looks far-fetched and any batting line-up in the world can explode in the end. So, key today was to take wickets in middle overs and Chahal did a good job to take those wickets,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chahal jumped 92 places to claim 86th position in the latest International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Twenty20 International player rankings, which were released here on Thursday.
Chahal returned with figures of 6/25, to trigger England’s collapse which saw eight wickets going down for eight runs as the visitors’ innings folded for a meagre 127 in response to India’s mammoth 202/6 in the third and final match at Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Among other bowlers, veteran Ashish Nehra jumped two place to sit at 24th spot while England pacer Chris Jordan vaulted nine places to be at 17th spot, according to an ICC release.
In the batsmen rankings, England’s Joe Root made impressive gains as he jumped two places to be at fifth position.
Root finished as the leading run-scorer in the recently concluded T20I series with 126 runs.
Other batsmen to head in the right direction include England captain Eoin Morgan. He vaulted four places to be at 11th spot while India’s Lokesh Rahul surged to 15th place.
Meanwhile, in team rankings, England has slipped behind Australia to sixth position, while India has retained its second position, trimming number-one ranked New Zealand’s lead to just five points.
