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India’s captain Virat Kohli said that he discovered a new facet of his batting in the drawn third Test against Sri Lanka – that hitting the ball in a five-day game is no different from an ODI.
Kohli struck 243 off just 287 deliveries with the help of 25 boundaries in the final game against Sri Lanka. He said it was a revelation that he can play at a fast pace in Test cricket, just like he does in ODIs.
"There's nothing called set patterns these days, if you can believe in yourself, you can achieve anything in any format," said Kohli who was adjudged Man of the Match as well as the Man of the Series for scoring 610 runs with three hundreds, including two double tons.
The 243 was Kohli's sixth double hundred and he became the first captain to score six Test double tons, eclipsing West Indies legend Brian Lara, who had five.
It was also Kohli's highest score, surpassing the previous best of 235 against England last year in Mumbai. He also equalled Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag for maximum number of double hundreds.
Asked what is his state of mind when he reaches a milestone like a hundred, he said:
The Indians dropped a few catches in Sri Lanka's first innings and Kohli admitted that slip fielding is something the team needs to improve before the South Africa tour.
On Ajinkya Rahane not fielding at one of the slips, he said, "Firstly, from his initial days, Ajinkya has always fielded at gully. It's a difficult place, and he has very good reflexes and so we trust him there."
About Rohit Sharma coming good in this series, Kohli said:
Kohli said he was a bit disappointed not to have finished off the match but gave credit to the Sri Lankans.
"When you're not able to finish off in second innings after having them three down on day four, is a bit disappointing. But they played well, they showed composure and confidence. The pitch got tired in the end. They (Sri Lankans) did not give us any chances to get into the game. In hindsight, if we would've grabbed our chances in the first innings, maybe they wouldn't have got so many runs. We should've done better. The slip catching and fielding, we need to work on," said Kohli.
On resting for the limited-overs leg, he said:
Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal attributed his side's good show to the execution of the plans.
Talking about the individual contributions in his team, he said, "Once Rangana was injured, everyone looked up to Angelo Matthews and he delivered. Dhananjaya and Roshen batted really well in tough conditions against some great bowlers India have got. Dickwella played a totally different brand of cricket. Happy with the way we played today."
Asked about his own batting, Chandimal, who hit a crucial century, said, "Before I got here, I changed my technique. I'd worked hard at the nets with the batting coach. It's paid off for me."
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