India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday, February 7, said they are not thinking about completing a whitewash against South Africa in the ongoing six-match ODI series. (3rd ODI - Full scorecard)
The 29-year-old though maintained that India are taking it one game at a time and their intensity will be as high as ever in the fourth ODI on Saturday, February 10.
Kohli's comments come after India thrashed South Africa by 124 runs in the third ODI in Cape Town on Wednesday. The captain led the team from the front with a 159-ball 160, his highest score in the "Rainbow Nation".
India have won three ODIs for the first time in a bilateral series in South Africa and are a win away from an unprecedented ODI series win in the African nation. The Men in Blue should be high on confidence, given they have hardly broken a sweat in the first three matches of the series.
"It [6-0] is quite a far-fetched thing. Still three games to go in this series. We just want to play like we have played so far in the series. Maybe have more intensity in the next game to close out the series," Kohli said during the post-match press conference in Cape Town.
"Biggest positive out of today [Wednesday] is that with 3-0 up, we can certainly not lose the series. That is certainly something that lifts the team much more. We will have more intensity and more passion in the next games," he added.
"We want to take one game at a time, make sure we do these things consistently well to be in a position to win again."
Superb show from consistent Kohli
Kohli came up with another sublime performance on the Newlands track that was unusually slow and also had spongy bounce that made it difficult for most batsmen. The captain walked into the middle as early as in the second over as opener Rohit Sharma was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the first over of the match.
He’s on a different level this bloke wow. What a player ??????@imVkohli https://t.co/SoDyRQajQi
— David Warner (@davidwarner31) February 7, 2018
Kohli stitched a 140-run stand for the second wicket with Shikhar Dhawan. The Delhi right-hander kept the scorecard ticking along even as South Africa struck at regular intervals after the dismissal of the left-handed opener.
On a humid day, Kohli ran hard between the wickets and hit 12 boundaries and two sixes en route to his 34th ODI ton, thereby helping India set a target of 304 for South Africa.
In reply, South African batsmen were bamboozled by usual suspects Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who picked up eight wickets between them. The wrist spinners have now taken 21 wickets in the first three matches.
