New Delhi: Team India is set to begin its preparations for the upcoming tour of West Indies from Wednesday in Bengaluru. This will be Indian cricket team’s first training camp under Anil Kumble, who was recently appointed as head coach.
Indian cricket team will play four Tests against West Indies beginning July 21. This will be Virat Kohli’s first Test series outside sub-continent as captain. And to make it a memorable one, Kohli has taken ‘three vows’.
Century against West Indies
Virat made his Test debut against West Indies at Kingston in 2011. Though he couldn’t impress in his debut match, Kohli has come a long way since then to become the mainstay of the Indian cricket team and got the captain. Since the, he has played 6 Test matches against the West Indies but could never score a century.
Virat has 11 centuries to his name in Test cricket but none of them came against the Caribbeans. In the 6 Tests, Virat has managed just 251 runs at an average of 27.8 with a top score of 63 runs. Hence, he would like to get the monkey off his back and hit a century against West Indies on the upcoming tour.
Reply to Simmons
Virat will never be able to forget the 2016 ICC World T20 semi-final loss to West Indies. And whenever he would recall the match, the face of West Indies batsman Lendl Simmons would pop up in his mind. Simmons played a match-winning knock of 82 runs off just 51 balls and dwarfed Virat’s 47-ball 89-run innings.
Later, Simmons said in an interview to espncricinfo, “When he (Virat Kohli) fielded, he said something to me, and I said to myself, 'I'm going to show you you're not the only good batsman."
"That's the way he is. He's very arrogant, he's very aggressive when he fields, and when he bats as well. He's just a very aggressive person," he added.
The West Indies tour will serve as a perfect opportunity for Virat to answer Simmons.
Virat wants to be the best
Ahead of the West Indies tour, Virat has declared that he wants to be the best and remain ahead of everyone. And for that he has turned himself into a fitness freak.
“It was after the IPL in 2012. Till then I did not focus much on the physical aspect. I never got into the minute details of fitness, things like what I need to eat from morning to night, how much I need to work out, how much I need to train. After that IPL, I started listening to my body.
“I made a lifestyle choice (back in 2012). I wanted to explore a new side of my body to take me to the next level because I never wanted to be average. I wanted to be the best in the world. So I always had that mindset but never had the physical ability (before 2012).”