India captain Virat Kohli was at his eloquent best on Monday. Excerpts:
On batting lower down, if K.L. Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan play
Yeah, big possibility, very happy to. I'm not possessive about where I play. Being the captain, it’s my job to make sure that the next lot is also ready. The vision has to be about the larger picture. If at all someone has to take responsibility, it should be me.
Playing Australia
They are a stronger side than the one that came to India last time. But they still won that series. The series before that, they were at full strength but we won. You may have the best players, but if you don’t play well as a team, you won’t win. Shows you how competitive the series between these teams are... the margin is always 3-2 or 2-1.
They have played so much IPL they are pretty experienced in these conditions. It’s always a challenge playing Australia, because of the skill-set and mind-set they bring onto the field.
Playing at the Wankhede
It's probably the best pitch to bat on in India. Not to take anything away from what bowlers can do here. When on a roll, they can pick up quick wickets.
In one-dayers you can get pace and bounce and sometimes seam as well under lights. It's probably, along with Adelaide, the best batting wicket I've played on.
On Tim Paine's pink-ball Test suggestion
We played the day-night Test here, we were pretty happy how it went. It's become a very exciting feature of any Test series and we’re open to playing day-night Tests. We’re up for the challenge — whether it's the Gabba, Perth... it doesn't matter. We have the skill-set as a team to compete against anyone in the world, anywhere, in any format of the game. Whether it's white-ball, red-ball or pink-ball, we're ready!
