DHARAMSALA: Two hours after landing here on Tuesday, Virat Kohli was the first player to arrive for practice. He got a fresh willow and headed into the nets, bare hands and no pads on.
The two throw-down professionals hurled balls at him at a good pace for a good 10 minutes as he punched each delivery off the middle of his bat. It was an optional session but Kohli was out there, making a statement.
This three-match ODI series versus South Africa, starting today, begins the back of Kohli’s group suffering a 0-3 ODI whitewash followed by the 0-2 drubbing in Tests in New Zealand. The Indian captain and coach Ravi Shastri had actually played down the significance of the 50- over video game in New Zealand, mentioning that there are 2 T20 World Cups lined up over the next 2 years.
Nevertheless, the ODI loss in New Zealand should have rankled. “Every worldwide series has its importance. If we lose, even you understand how individuals and the media would respond,” Bhuvneshwar Kumar put it candidly here on Wednesday, the eve of the very first ODI.
If the team ma