It was a pretty good year for Team India as they bid adieu to 2018 in style, having won the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the MCG by 137 runs on Sunday. Even as Virat Kohli and his teammates joined the rest of the world in ushering in the New Year, it is unlikely that there would have been any dilution of their new-found resolve of winning matches overseas.
In a way, the Sydney Test that gets under way on Thursday represents the 'last frontier' in Team India's quest for an elusive series win Down Under. Kohli's men, up 2-1 in the four-Test series, are just half a step away from creating history. Kohli and Co. will look to make a positive start to the year by winning the final Test before turning their focus on preparations for the 50-over World Cup in June. A victory in Sydney will not only allow the Indian players to go into the ensuing ODI series with renewed confidence but also put them in the right frame for the World Cup.
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Ticking the right boxes before a big tournament is extremely important. The Indian team management, which bungled with selection issues in South Africa as well as England in 2018, must look to instill confidence in the group of players who are in the running to make the cut for the World Cup.
Coming close on the heels of the debacle in England, the Australian sojourn represented a grand opportunity for Team India for a shot at redemption. Even though they slipped up on a bouncy Perth pitch after going 1-0 up in Adelaide, India proved in no certain terms in Melbourne that they have been by far the better of the two sides so far.
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The Australians have thrown everything they had at their command to unsettle India, including a fair amount of sledging. But the overall performance of the home team - particularly with the bat - has been so ordinary that India have had no problems in rolling them over.
Much of the credit for this must go to Kohli, for the manner in which he has led the team and also conducted himself on the field. For someone who wears his emotions on his sleeves, Kohli is prone to histrionics and often gets carried away in the heat of the battle. Kohli, however, has been very restrained on the field here. He may have looked his animated self on the field but has been very careful about not 'crossing the line' while initiating verbal duels with his opposite number or members of the rival team.
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And with the bat, he has been both classy and single-minded. It is not without reason Kohli ends the year as the world's No. 1 batsman - a position he has held by dint of his strong show with the willow. After all, no other batsman made more runs than Kohli in 2018.
His aggregate for the year stands at 1,322 runs from 13 Tests at an average of 55.08. It included five centuries and as many fifties. Kohli, in fact, has been so good that Graeme Hick - Australia's batting coach - has urged his faltering troops to learn from the Indian captain.
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Kohli, of course, has been lucky to have a very accomplished bowling unit which is well-stocked in pace as well as spin-bowling resources. The pacers - Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar - have combined to script India's triumphs away from home.