Kohli: Spinners making the difference

Virat Kohli says he was always confident his wrist-spinners would be effective against the Proteas.

India have dominated the first three matches of the ODI series, winning by six wickets, nine wickets and 124 runs.

It’s no secret that the biggest issue for the Proteas in this series has been India’s spinners, with Yuzvendra Chahal (11) and Kuldeep Yadav (10) taking 21 of the hosts’ 28 wickets between them.

At Newlands, the pair took four wickets apiece as South Africa were bowled out for 179 in pursuit of 304 to win.

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Kohli wasn’t surprised by the success of his wrist-spinners in South Africa.

‘We knew they would pick up wickets, because they have bowled on flatter tracks at home,’ he said on Thursday. ‘They have also bowled in T20 cricket, when the conditions are very difficult, and picked up wickets on a regular basis.

‘Here they felt even better because they were getting bounce. On today’s pitch, it got really slow at the end so they were getting turn as well. They feel at the top of their game when they have the pitches supporting them, even a little bit.

‘But they are very brave and even on flatter pitches, wrist spinners will come into play and they have made that difference in the game. They might go for six an over, we knew that, but they will pick up three to four wickets between them.

‘They have done outstandingly well in the last two games, picking up a majority of the wickets in both, and being the difference between the sides.’

Despite India’s dominance, Kohli said talk of a 6-0 series whitewash is ‘far-fetched’.

‘There are still three games to go,’ he said. ‘We just want to play the way we have played until now, and maybe have more intensity in the next game to close the series out.

‘The biggest positive from today’s game is that there is no way we can lose the series now. That is certainly something that lifts the team even more.’

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