Ranchi: The intent has always been honest and that precisely is the reason for the stupendous results that the Indian cricket team is currently delivering, skipper Virat Kohli said on Tuesday after a thumping 3-0 whitewash of South Africa. India had two innings wins in three Test matches and have now won 11 successive series at home under Kohli's leadership.
"As long as we keep working with honest intent, those things will follow. We have wanted to be the best team in Test cricket, and as long as we compete, things will work out well for us," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The best part about the win was taking the conditions out of equation, said Kohli. "Amazing. You guys have seen how we're playing. Making things happen on pitches that don't seem to offer too much, is something we're very proud of," the skipper said.
While spinners got 34 wickets, the pacers, in conditions which were not exactly bowler-friendly, snared 26 scalps with Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami doing bulk of the damage. "Even when we travelled away from home, we wanted to compete. Getting into the right kind of mindset is something these guys have worked really hard to get into... To be the best side in the world, you have to be multi-dimensional," skipper said.
"Spin was always our strength, batting was never a problem for us. Ishant (Sharma) was the only experienced bowler for us. We said we can play an extra bowler, and as batsmen we said we'll get the job done. We've got runs in every Test match, our catching has been good too. (Goal) As I said, even without much experience, we travelled very well. We believe we can win anywhere," Kohli added.
Twitter chatter!
- "Outstanding display of cricket by India to win the series 3-0. Very good to see all batsmen contribute & the wickets getting shared between the pacers & spinners. Dominating start to the World Test Championship (sic)," Sachin Tendulkar/ @sachin_rt
- "3-0 as predicted congratulations @BCCI, team india.. way to good for South Africa.. they have lots of work to do to get their team to that level. #INDvsSA (sic),” Harbhajan Singh/ @harbhajan_singh
- "Well played #TeamIndia, @imVkohli & Co. Easily the best Indian team ever in home conditions. Superb array of batsmen and bowlers (particularly in the pace department), hardy and deeply ambitious approach,” Ayaz Memon/ @cricketwallah
- "A great catch and a bizarre dismissal this morning. But it took only 9 mins and 2 overs to produce India's biggest win over South Africa,” Harsha Bhogle/ @bhogleharsha
Brief scores: India 497/9 dec (Rohit 212, Rahane 115, Linde 4-133) beat South Africa 162 (Hamza 62, Umesh 3-40) and 133 (de Bruyn 30, Shami 3-10) by an innings and 202 runs.
