Virat Kohli has praised Hardik Pandya’s performance on his return to the ODI side, believing India are “more balanced” with the all-rounder in the side.
India’s comfortable seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the third ODI at Mount Maunganui gave the visitors an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
It was another convincing performance from Kohli’s side as they bowled their hosts out for 243, despite Ross Taylor top-scoring with 93, before chasing down the score with seven overs to spare.
“The fact that we have won [all] three is an outstanding achievement,” the India skipper said. “The thing that stands out for me is the relentless intensity that the guys have played with throughout and that they have not relaxed after going 2-0 up.
“I saw him bat in the nets and I was like, ‘Wow, I was not even ten per cent of that when I was 19!’ That’s the confidence that they carry, and it is great for Indian cricket if the standard keeps going up and the guys coming in can make impact performances straight away and we would be more than happy to give them the chances and help them grow.”
Despite losing the series, New Zealand are still expected to be strong competitors at the World Cup. Kohli feels this series win could give India a psychological edge when they face each other at Trent Bridge on June 13.
“New Zealand is a very strong ODI side, so when you play like we have against them it gives you a lot of confidence as a team,” the India skipper added. When you are going to play them again, you can take a lot of confidence from the last time you played them and that is usually how international cricket works.
“In a tournament like the World Cup, you never know what kind of confidence a team is carrying when you play them. If it is the first game, then you can bank on these things, but this series is not a guarantee that we will have the upper-hand in the World Cup.
“We will have to start well, and we will have to get momentum. It is a long tournament and we are just fine-tuning everything as a team but come the World Cup every team will have to be at their best and that is something that we want to make a habit. We want to be relentless and continue our performances so we can go through a long tournament with confidence.”
