India team is ready for Sri Lanka tour

Rahane, Sharma and Dhawan during the pre-departure press conference in Chennai

At their pre-departure press conference, the trio of Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan fielded questions from journalists on the forthcoming Sri Lankan tour. Rahane and Sharma were pretty clear when they said that the excuse of being a young, inexperienced side can no longer work, as the team had enough time after the transition period was over.

“After we finished the West Indies tour and went to South Africa in 2013 that was a challenge. If I am not wrong after that we went to England, New Zealand and Australia and we knew that was going to be a challenge with the big names retiring”, Sharma was quoted by Khaleej Times.

Sharma added that the all the current unit of players had at least 10 test matches under their belt, hence there can be no excuse for the mediocre performances overseas.

On the question of the preparation of batsmen against the spinners on the slow, turning Sri Lankan pitches, Sharma quipped that “Every batsman has a different approach to a spinner. But as batting unit our aim is to dominate and play positively. All our batsmen have good technique to play the spinners, but it will be a challenge, we cannot deny that”.

Dhawan was queried on his comments about his doubtful place in the final eleven and he clarified that he was misquoted, all he wanted to say that in the current scenario, no one can take his place for granted especially in the Test Cricket.

“There will always be competition in the team. As long as you are in the team there will always be competition. This is not a new thing for us. Competition is always necessary for every cricketer of the team because this is one thing which motivates you and increases your eagerness to perform”, Dhawan said.

For now the biggest challenge for the Virat Kohli-led Indian team would be to come victorious from the Sri Lankan tour. Having said that, it is not going to be a stroll in the park for the team in the hostile Sri Lankan conditions.