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Team mates will determine success of my captaincy: Kohli

November 23, 2014 15:18 IST

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli during a training session in Adelaide. Photograph: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images

Virat Kohli says his team mates will determine the success or otherwise of his captaincy when he takes charge of India in place of Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the first Test against Australia next month.

- Priority in Australia is to be positive and aggressive: Kohli

The 26-year-old batsman will make his Test captaincy bow in Brisbane on December 4 while Dhoni sits out the first of the four matches in the series to recuperate from a hand injury.

"I'm pretty confident of the ability the guys have," he told reporters on Sunday in Adelaide, where India open their tour with a two-day match against a Prime Minister's XI starting on Monday.

"It's up to me how I handle them, how I handle different situations.

"As long as the team backs me and puts in the performances we want, I think I'm going to look good at the end of the day.

"I don't see any issues on why I can't be up to the challenge."



India's players warm up during a training session in Adelaide. Photograph: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images

Kohli was very much the Test rookie alongside the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and V V S Laxman on India's last tour of Australia in 2011-12.

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He ended up being one of the few bright lights for the tourists as they slumped to a humiliating 4-0 sweep, however, and scored his maiden century in the fourth Test in Adelaide.

Unlike many of his team mates, Kohli has the experience of playing on the hard Australian decks and in front of the vocally hostile crowds.

Virat Kohli (right) speaks to his teammates during a training session in Adelaide. Photograph: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images

In 2012, he was fined half of his match fee in the second Test in Sydney for responding to barracking from the crowd by gesturing at them with his middle finger.

After his Adelaide century he said his innings was a fitting riposte to 'drunken' Australian fans who had heckled him from the stands throughout the series.

"I'm certainly expecting it again," Kohli said. "I loved it. Once you perform in those conditions, the people love you here and they love a good fight.

"We're here to play aggressive cricket, play the brand of cricket that Australia plays."

After the Brisbane Test, India play matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney before beginning preparations for their defence of the 50-overs World Cup in February-March.

Source: REUTERS
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