Virat Kohli expects India to produce displays worthy of No 1 status in Sri Lanka

SERIES SCHEDULE

First Test, Galle International Stadium
July 26-30
Second Test, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
August 3-7
Third Test, Pallekele International Stadium
August 12-16
First ODI, Rangiri Dambulla Stadium
August 20
Second ODI, Pallekele International Stadium
August 24
Third ODI, Pallekele International Stadium
August 27
Fourth ODI, R Premadasa Stadium
August 31
Fifth ODI, R Premadasa Stadium
September 3
T20, R Premadasa Stadium
September 6

Two years ago Virat Kohli's India started a series in Sri Lanka as the team almost anyone could beat. On Wednesday they take to the field in Galle as the team to beat.

India may have been nervous last time, but now Kohli says the side has come full circle with "no massive areas of concern" as they seek to strengthen their hold on No 1 Test nation status.

Two years ago, India had not won a series in seven attempts. They lost the opening Galle Test and it proved an electro-shock. India went on to win that series 2-1.

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India have since been embroiled in near chaos off the field - the governing body put under Supreme Court administration and a coach forced out by clashes with the captain - but near domination in competition: 13 Tests played, 10 won, two drawn and just one defeat.

India captain Kohli said on Tuesday that he wants a definitive end to the drama over the departure of Anil Kumble as coach and a winning start to the new era with Ravi Shastri.

"We have spoken enough about these issues and it is something that we are not focusing on at all now," Kohli said. "We are just looking forward to the cricket now and in this series to showcase our skills and have consistent performances, which we have had as a side ever since we started our climb back in the rankings."

Kohli said Sri Lanka can expect a different start and that India can dominate Tests for years to come. They are expected to defend their top Test ranking in South Africa, England and Australia in the next year.

"It's pretty different sitting here two years after that particular series," Kohli said of the last Sri Lanka tour. "They were very important in us coming together as a team in believing that we can win a series and not just matches. So that was the beginning of that mindset.

"I think we have built a really good base for us as a team to be able to do that consistently over the next few years. We are pretty humble in our preparations and do the hard yards every game that we play. We have all bases covered strongly."

India have ruled opening batsman Lokesh Rahul out of the first Test with a viral fever.

Kohli said there would be no experiments with the opening lineup, which means Shikhar Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund should start the batting.

"I don't think there are any massive areas of concern for us," Kohli said. "We've been looking to fine-tune smaller areas during the course of the game, which probably people might not be able to pick up."

Kohli said the onus was on the Indian players to "put us into a position where we can't lose".

"We have been able to put ourselves in a position in games, 80-85 per cent of the games, where there's only one winner left," he said. "That's the kind of sustained pressure that we've been able to build."

* Agence France-Presse

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Engine 3.6L V6

Transmission: Six-speed automatic

Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm

Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm

Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km

Brief scores:

Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field

Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55

Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out

Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets

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Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
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Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.