‘Won’t take anything for granted’ – Virat Kohli

Smith and Warner are serving ball-tampering bans, and will not be a part of the Indian tour. In their absence, Australia have struggled in white-ball cricket, winning just four of 11 Twenty20 Internationals and losing the rest, and losing all but one of eight one-day internationals.

The situation is not ideal for Australia, as Kohli pointed out, but he suggested that the Australians remain as strong as ever and cannot be taken lightly.

“There’s no denying the quality they have in their side. They still have world-class cricketers. Obviously missing out on two of their best batsmen is not ideal for any team, but even then they have guys, especially in the limited-overs game, who can do damage at any given point of time,” said Kohli on the eve of the first T20I.

“You can never underestimate any side. We’ve come here to compete against Australia, the whole team, and we will definitely not take anything for granted.”

Aaron Finch, the Australian captain, said in his media interaction that there were very few chinks in the Indian armoury.

When asked about his thoughts, Kohli said, “We definitely have a very strong side. I don’t think there’s any side in world cricket that doesn’t have any weaknesses or (don’t have) points that they need to keep working on. We as a side keep striving forward to figure out what we need to work on and take our quality of cricket up.

“If we are playing at our best possible level, then try and maintain it for as long as possible. That’s why our level of cricket has gone up. And we have been able to maintain it because when we step on to the field, we are 11 individuals who are striving for excellence and be the best on that particular day. That’s when the performances come together and it looks lovely as a team.”

Kohli is very much the leader of the batting order, across formats, while the bowling has also started to look very strong. In Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, there are two top-notch wrist-spinners, and a solid fast-bowling attack is led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, two of the best white-ball pacers in the world.

“You think about giving the others a go at the start of a series, but then again you feel that the first few games are important, and then if the other side wins a game or two, you still go and bank on Bhuvi and Bumrah,” said Kohli, explaining how opportunities for the other pacers might be rare.

“The reason why they are so good is that they are thinking bowlers, they understand the situation and they have a gut feel of what a batsman is looking to do. The ability to predict what’s going to happen each ball keeps them one step ahead most of the time.

“Sometimes they will get dominated like everyone does, but 85-90 per cent of the time, they are spot on. Any captain would love to have both of them in their bowling attack. I’ve been lucky to have both of them bowling so well.”