13-Test home season will be `career-defining` for many Indian players : Kohli

Kanpur [India], Sept.21 (ANI): Pinning down confidence on the upcoming series against New Zealand starting from Thursday in Kanpur, India Test skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday said that the gruelling long home season of 13 Tests will offer a career-defining experience to many players in the current squad. "This season obviously will be career defining for all the people in this squad because hardly we have played 17 Test matches in a regular interval. We have played on and off. That is one thing we are really happy about that we can plan our Test cricket and test ourselves and earn our victories whenever the chance comes up. So, it will going to be a very exciting time," Kohli told the press conference. Insisting that the current Indian squad is full of `talented` players, the 27-year-old called on his side to show the same composure in the upcoming series as they have been displaying since last one year. "I think this season will lay a foundation as to where the Test cricket will go as far as India is concerned. This team is full of exciting players who are very talented as we all know. The challenge for the last year or so has been to show composure in Test cricket and get the victories that were required. And we have been able to do that. So the main thing is to continue with the same," he added. Kohli, however, said that his side is currently focusing on solidifying their batting and improvising all minor mistakes in order to take an edge over their opponents. "We talk about solidifying our batting a little more because all the teams have quality spinners now a day. We don't want to leave out a window for our oppositions to capitalize. Especially quality sides like New Zealand, England, and Australia whom we are going to play. So, we have to make sure that all bases are covered. In some conditions, we might not need fifth bowler. So we have to smart about the combination that we want to play," Kohli said. Kohli also could not help himself gushing over the Kane-Williamson led side, saying the team had been performing really well in the recent times and, therefore, India have to give them strong competition in order to seal victory. "They played some really good cricket. They have built into a good side. Kane (Williamson) is leading the side really well. So we expect really good competition. And good hard-fought cricket. They are the side who don't give up, They have pretty skilful players in the team. Both teams need to focus on their strength and whoever breaks first obviously handover the advantage to the other team," he said. After New Zealand, India will face England, Australia and Bangladesh in Tests, when they will be eyeing to climb to number one ranking in the longest format of the game, which they lost to Pakistan recently. (ANI)