We have to maintain this performance for 7-8 years to be the best ever: Kohli

We have to maintain this performance for 7-8 years to be the best ever: Kohli

Photo: BCCI

Chennai: The top-ranked Indian Test team is on a roll having triumphed in five straight series under Virat Kohli but the captain insists his side will have to keep winning consistently for the next 7-8 years to leave a mark on the world stage.

With the win in the Mumbai Test, the Kohli-led team secured the five-match series against England and the emphatic performance came after India got the better of New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the previous rubbers.

Asked about the air of invincibility surrounding the team ahead of the fifth Test starting tomorrow, Kohli replied in the negative.

"Not really, we still understand we have got to play a lot of cricket everywhere in the world. It's not only about this one period we are going through," said Kohli.

"It (the phase) looks really good because we have come out of transition and immediately started winning games. But I wouldn't take this as overconfidence.”

"As I said, it's an ongoing process which needs to be sustained for the next five-seven or eight years for us to become a top quality side and leave a mark on world cricket; maybe known as one of the best teams to have assembled on the field."

Kohli asserted that focus is on doing well in all formats and not just Tests.

"We want to do it across formats and make that mark for Indian cricket on the world stage. But it requires a lot of persistence and skill, lot of hard work on your fitness and those are the key factors which will decide where we go as a unit.

"We don't feel invincible to be honest, we respect every opposition, we admit every time we are put under pressure, and we know teams are going to put us under pressure. We appreciate that, we accept that and we try to find a way out of it.

"I think that's been the key for us and as I said it's a process that should go on for another seven-eight years," said the skipper, who has played an important role in the team's success.

Talking about the dead rubber beginning tomorrow, Kohli said the match remains an important one for the hosts.

"I don't think we are looking at a collective series as 4-0. For us every game is separate from the other and the intensity and the motivation to win a Test match remains the same, whether we have won the series or haven't won the series, or it's drawn.

"We are not looking at a scoreline as such. We just want to continue what we have been doing. It takes a lot of hard work to win a Test match and to put a number to it, I think it would be unfair to the players and the series as well," Kohli added.