Virat Kohli: Was batting with aggressive approach against Sri Lanka keeping South Africa tour in mind

India came up with with a superb performance to tame the Sri Lankans by an innings and 236 runs in the second of the three-Test series at Nagpur.

India tamed the Sri Lanka by an innings and 236 runs at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Monday. Apart from the game-play, it was India’s aggressive attitude that led to a dominating performance against Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli led the charge with a dominating 213, his 5th Test double hundred. At the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli said that the main reason to bat with an aggressive attitude was a warm-up ahead of the upcoming tough tour of South Africa. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Sri Lanka 2017-18, 2nd Test at Nagpur

On his aggressive batting

“I just wanted to bat the way I bat. Get into good positions and rotate strike and score quickly so our bowlers have time to bowl the opposition out. We will need that [approach] overseas so I was looking at doing that. I always wanted to better myself in scoring big hundreds for the simple reason that the team benefits. When you lose concentration after a hundred, maybe two wickets can fall quickly. A set batsman can play shots easier than a new batsman so I started thinking in that way and my fitness helps me bat for longer periods.”

On performance of Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma

“Pujara has been very consistent. Vijay was [consistent] playing after a while; he takes pride in playing Test cricket. I know it hurt him to be out and he came back really well. Rohit [is] making a strong case for himself in the future. He will always be there when we speak about combinations. We have a lot f Test cricket coming up.” FULL CRICKET UPDATES: India vs Sri Lanka 2017-18, 2nd Test at Nagpur, Day 4

On Indian pacers

“Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] has played a lot of cricket for India in the last few months. Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav did not play so much. But they bowled a lot of overs in first-class cricket and they always say that’s important for rhythm. Even on this pitch, they were excellent. Although the spinners did a good job for us, Ishant was the standout bowler.”

On upcoming South Africa tour

“We would like to think we want to prepare for South Africa. That’s why we asked for pitches with help for the fast bowlers. This one deteriorated by the second day. But Kolkata was the ideal wicket. There’s not enough time in between to prepare so we have to use the time we have now for a big tour coming up.”

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