What does a four-day finish mean to Virat Kohli? To start with, it ensures there would no 6.30 am wake-up call next morning. The India captain says he doesn’t think too much about the Test rankings but getting to the No. 1 does offer the incentive to do better. Kohli carried the dressing room happiness to the press conference, and was in a cheeky mood. “Well tried,” he said when a reporter asked him if the crowd support helped India get the marginal decisions in their favour. He was jovial, and spoke like a leader as he discussed Ravindra Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha’s batting contributions. WATCH VIDEO: BCCI To Cancel India-New Zealand Series, Here's Why He offered an interesting explanation for letting Jadeja bat for a little longer, and get his fifty in the first Test at Kanpur. “These two guys (Jadeja and Saha) are batting at positions that are very important in Test cricket. For them to understand their own abilities and get confident – that was one of the main reasons why we waited for three more overs in Kanpur; to let Jadeja cross 50. Because, that way you understand how to get to that again and again. “If you declare on 45, he will never get that extra boost of having gotten a half-century in a Test match. So it was all about building confidence for a particular individual, because we understand how important his character can be in a situation where maybe you need to play out an hour or you need 40 quick runs again. And that is the guy who is confident and can do the job for you. “So as a captain, I think the contribution by Jadeja in the first game and Saha here (were the prime gains). Saha has been doing really well this year, I wish him well to keep going. Obviously a ‘keeper coming good for you is an added bonus. So I feel these two have to be the biggest gains (from the two Tests),” he said. READ: ICC Test rankings: India’s rise result of a sustained effort Attention shifted to young players sporting a beard. Even Saha seems to have become a bit fond of facial hairs. Kohli laughed at the possibility. “I don’t think Saha gets a stubble, so it’s very difficult for him! He will have to keep shaving for two days…” Cue laughter. Winning is very important to him but like most captains Kohli wants success through a collective effort. “If all of your players perform, nothing like it. Because you don’t want to sit in the changing room and see a couple of sad faces. To be honest, when everyone contributes, it’s a happy environment. “This was a Test match that had to be fought out, which took character from all the players. This was a Test match that players took as an opportunity to build character rather than pressure. The more we win Test matches like this, the more we understand how Test cricket is played - how Test matches can be won. “So we can keep repeating those things. It’s all about feeding those things into your head and keep repeating it. That’s what consistency is. Obviously individual brilliance, one-odd game, someone will get a magnificent hundred in the fourth innings and win you the game. You will feel very happy but as a captain I think this win is far more satisfying than individual brilliance winning you a game.” READ: India rise to top of Test rankings with emphatic win at Eden Gardens To be consistent a team needs a lot of batting work behind the scenes. Kohli’s India prepare to deal with variety of conditions. “The batting work basically. See, obviously you prepare for conditions but you don't want to get too much into conditions that you forget the mental set-up, mental side of things. I think mental set-up is far more important. A person who is feeling positive and optimistic about playing on a certain kind of wicket, he will get runs. A person who is thinking too much about conditions or ‘what if the ball does this or the ball does that’, he will not get runs. So what we work on a daily basis is clarity of mind more than perfect bat position.” Three days ago Ajinkya Rahane spoke about how the contributions from lower-order is helping the top half to be in a better mental state. Kohli concurred. “For the tail as well, it's very important to be clear. You can get a sense of the situation. If the other side is looking to save runs, then you as a tail (ender), you can collect a few more than you can get. But if they are putting pressure on you, then obviously you want to bat it out. So it’s all about the make-up of the head. So we work on the mental set-up more than the technical side of things.” The No. 1 Test ranking had to come up and the skipper once again put things in perspective. “I mentioned this before also; rankings are something that are just an incentive for what you do on the field. I didn’t even know how many points difference we had to get to No.1. We just want to win every game we play. It’s as simple as that. “It doesn’t mean that we take our foot off the pedal in Indore. We don’t drop intensity there. We don’t drop our character; our vision to win a Test match for the country. It’s our responsibility to keep Test cricket where it belongs, and if we play cricket like this – you saw how engaged the crowd was, they like to see exciting cricket, and we have to provide it,” Kohli said.
