‘We can’t keep winning 12 months in a year’, says Virat Kohli after 372-run triumph over New Zealand

Mumbai: After the team’s thumping 1-0 series win over New Zealand, India skipper Virat Kohli reckons that 2021 was a good year for the senior team apart from the setbacks at the T20 World Cup and the World Test Championship final. Kohli’s side defeated New Zealand by 372 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday (December 6) to win their 14th consecutive series at home.

“The year has been very good for us. We have played very good cricket. There were two setbacks in the T20 World Cup and WTC. Victories in England and Australia gave us a lot of confidence. The Indian team is expected to win everything, but that’s not realistic,” Kohli said on Monday.

“We know what we need to work on and improve on and look forward to. That’s our process. We have set a high standard for Indian cricket, and that needs to be maintained. That’s what we have to have in the forefront of our minds.”

Kohli on Monday also became the first player to record 50 international wins in each format of the game. He has now 50 Test wins, 50 ODI wins and 50 T20I wins.

With Shreyas Iyer scoring a century on Test debut in Kanpur and Mayank Agarwal coming up with a hundred in Mumbai, the pressure has only grown on selectors. The team for three-Test series against South Africa is supposed to be announced this week with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant expected to return to the side.

He also said that some discussions about team combination will happen ahead of India’s tour of South Africa later this month.
“These are discussions that we need to have with the selectors urgently. We need clarity on things whether we continue with the current performers or keep berth for the senior players who were out injured or given a break. We’ll have this discussion immediately after going back to the team hotel today,” Kohli revealed.