Skipper Virat Kohli shrugged off pressure yesterday for India to regain the top spot in the world rankings, saying he’s not interested in numbers, ahead of the second Test against New Zealand.
After securing a comprehensive 197-run victory against New Zealand in the first Test, India could regain the number one position if they win the second Test starting in Kolkata today and clinch the three-match series.
But Kohli said he was not motivated by records, despite India being just one point behind archrivals Pakistan in the International Cricket Council Test rankings.
“Number one doesn’t matter for us because it is temporary,” the skipper told reporters. “If you get attached to these things then you get upset you are not able to do it. It’s better to observe from far on things that are not directly in our control.”
India toppled Australia at the top of the rankings after their recent series win against the West Indies, only to be leapfrogged by Pakistan. India are now hopeful of returning to number one before Pakistan play three Tests against the Windies in October and November.
Kohli was noncommittal about whether Gautam Gambhir would play in Kolkata after he was spotted in the nets late yesterday, following the veteran opener’s inclusion in the squad after a two-year absence.
Spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowled India to victory on Monday in Kanpur, but Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens is not expected to offer as much spin.
“The surface is pretty nice, it has a little bit of grass covering. It should be a good wicket to bat on,” said Kohli, who had a disappointing time at the crease in Kanpur.
Kohli also said India would probably introduce the Decision Review System (DRS) after India’s cricket board appeared to soften its opposition to the umpiring system if some changes were introduced.
“We will certainly look to probably introduce it in future,” Kohli said
“Those things I can’t say yes or no sitting here. We have discussed. We have had meetings about it. There are some areas (that) can be debated, especially ball tracking and hawk eye.”
New Zealand opener Tom Latham welcomed the apparent change of stance from India, saying the system reduced human errors.
“We’ve had it in the past back home and it is a good system that tends to work. It gets rid of that decision that probably isn’t out or is out, that major decision that is called incorrectly.”
“We enjoy it back home if (India started using it) that’d be great,” Latham said.