Ecstatic after India beat England in all three formats of the game in their tour of the country, captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday termed the entire series as a memorable one with a lot of positives for the national cricket team going forward. He also threw light on the discussions which he has with the former captain regarding his batting slot.
"It's a memorable series win for us, the whole tour. It's been a brilliant couple of months for the Indian team, going forward we know exactly what to do in each format," Kohli said after India beat England by 75 runs in the third and final T20 in Bengaluru on Wednesday. India had beaten England 4-0 in the five-match Test series, 2-1 in the three-game ODI contest before clinching a 2-1 win in the three T20 International matches.
Kohli paid tributes to his senior colleagues, including Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, for their guidance in the limited overs series.
"It's not a bad thing when you have MS Dhoni behind the stumps and experienced guys like Ashu bhai (Ashish Nehra) and Yuvi pa (Yuvraj Singh). I am new to limited overs cricket and they have been around long before me. I'm taking advice from them whenever possible, they're so intelligent, a lot of credit goes to them," Kohli said.
Praising Dhoni, who recently stepped down as limited overs captain and who scored 56 in India's 202 for 6, Kohli said, "I wanted to send (Dhoni) up the order, he's the one who says he'll come in later, that will give the team better balance. Come the big game, even in the one-day series, series decider, he stepped up, and he stepped up again today. He is priceless."
Talking about Yuzvendra Chahal, who returned with amazing figures of 6/25, the captain said, "He (Chahal) knows these conditions (as he plays Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL), he knows how to bowl here, he knows the length. I have a lot of faith in him, and he plays with a lot of confidence. He has a lot of skill and he has the character as well.
"Having two leg-spinners on a dry wicket, we always knew we would get a few chances. Mishy (Amit Mishra) started it, and then Chahal took five wickets in two overs. Mishra's two overs, and that one over from Jordan to Yuvi, that changed the momentum. It pushed us past 200, and that gave us the psychological advantage."
