A series win against West Indies, both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma ended 2019 with happy vibes. Both felt that the ICC world Cup, at the starting of this year, is the only sore spot otherwise a happy year.
“A World Cup triumph would have been fair, throughout the year, whether red ball or white-ball cricket, the team came together really well,” said Rohit.
Rohit accomplished this year with ten international hundreds across formats, and 1490 ODI runs which ranked him eighth in the permanent list. “Extremely grateful for the year I’ve had, I’ve enjoyed batting, but there’s no way I’m stopping. There’s a great year coming up. I understand my batting unquestionably well. I want to play within my limits, understanding the game plan I want to execute is very, very crucial.” he said.
Skipper Kohli, the first player to accumulate 2000-plus runs for four successive years who had a successful 2019 himself – reverberated Rohit’s sentiments. “2019 has been one of the best years for Indian cricket,” said Kohli.
“Apart from the 30 minutes [in the semifinal] in the World Cup, it’s been a great year. We’ll keep hunt that ICC trophy, this group demands it for the amount of hard work we have put in. We have a vision in place,” he said.
Development Of A Good Fast Bowling Crop
In the after-match appearance, Kohli said, if one of the biggest outcomes of the year is the development of a good fast bowling crop; “Having a bunch of fast bowlers who can bowl out any opposition team anywhere – them taking the craze away from the spinners in India is a huge accomplishment. We believe we have it in us to win International series, not just the ODI game.”
That too was on the wish list of Rohit, who said “Once we start traveling, we want to win games and stay on top of the table,” even as Kohli stressed on the importance of identifying youngsters to carry forward the good work done.
“We are in the procedure of trying out players, see how they react under stress. Whether public want to accept it or not, the younger generation will have to get on within a few years,” said Kohli