Kohli lauds his quick-learning youngsters

Virat Kohli has hailed the professionalism not just of his team but of the cricket set-up after the sweet 4-0 series win against England. Constantly India had to chop and change in this series because of injuries, but the players coming in fitted in seamlessly. India started out with two of their three openers injured, lost one of them again, lost their pace spearhead and firefighting wicketkeeper in the middle of the series, but never missed any of them.

“Whoever comes into the team he knows there is a certain benchmark for fitness in the team,” Kohli said. “Of performance. Of mindset. We want players to be match-ready when they join the India team. You shouldn’t be spending a year in international cricket just learning what to do now. You lose a lot of time in that. And many players can’t face that pressure. But if you are prepared, if you are professional, if you know you have to work hard, if you know how to prepare for a game, you have a better chance of performing.

“Like KL Rahul. Like Karun Nair. You can see their performance for yourself. Especially Karun. Replacing a batsman like Ajinkya [Rahane], who has been performing consistently in the last two years in Test cricket. To walk in and score a triple-hundred, there couldn’t have been a bigger statement. It shows that the next generation will keep getting smarter looking at others, learning how it is done. What we need to do when we reach the Indian team. It is just evolution. It is sometimes surprising looking at these youngsters, how quickly they pick things up. They are very smart, and it shows on the field in how they play.”

In this age of cricket throughout the year, it is near impossible for the national captain to keep track of all the talent in the country. So the support system around the India team has to be impeccable. Rahul …

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