India vs Sri Lanka 2020: Virat Kohli doesn't believe in the idea of putting players against each other

The Shikhar Dhawan versus KL Rahul debate seems to gain momentum with every passing day. In the third T20I against Sri Lanka, both Dhawan and Rahul scored half-centuries as India posted a mammoth 201 in their 20 overs which proved to be too much for Sri Lanka in the end as they lost by 78 runs.

Skipper Virat Kohli insisted that there is healthy competition in the team and although Dhawan and Rahul are both in great form, the one to partner Rohit Sharma in limited-overs cricket in the future will be decided on current form.

Saini picks up his THIRD. Sri Lanka are all out for 123 runs.#TeamIndia win by 78 runs and win the series 2-0 👏🎉#INDvSL pic.twitter.com/5XwoXPeNBx

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 10, 2020

While Rahul has put in some excellent performances over the past two months, Dhawan seems to have found his touch in the last T20I. Kohli claimed that he is strictly against the idea of putting any player against the other.

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Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony,

“All three openers are pretty strong players, and it’s great to have players playing well in the team. It gives you options. But I think people need to stop pitting players against each other. It’s all about a team game. I don’t endorse this idea of putting people in the team against each other.”

Manish Pandey and Shradul Thakur provided India with a strong finish with the bat, and the bowlers did a fantastic job as India won the three-match series 2-0. Kohli was extremely happy with the result and was satisfied with the entire Indian bench being tested and coming out with flying colours.

The Indian skipper said,

“We have started on the right track, chasing (in) one game and setting one game. Two very clinical performances, so I am very happy. Just the confidence of getting that 200 mark every now and then will put us in a good stead.

“That middle collapse was challenging and what Manish and Shardul did was very good. We require more of this in the coming games as well, to see who are the guys putting their hands up when the senior guys don’t get runs."

Kohli was happy with the change in mindset of the Indian batsmen, especially batting first, and hoped that this would lead to a bright future ahead of the T20 World CUp later this year.

“Batting first and setting totals... today I thought 180 and we got 200. In Mumbai, (vs West Indies) we thought of 200 and we got 230. We just want to continue that, we don’t want to be a team that is tentative batting first. How confident we are batting second, we want to be like that batting first as well."

India will next face Australia in a three-match ODI series starting from 14th January.