Kohli: It's an equal battle

Although it is just a one-match series, the tie is a historic one as Bangladesh are currently in India on their maiden tour ever since achieving the Test status back in 2000. Kohli said Bangladesh’s recent successes in the Test format are praiseworthy. Even though the Tigers lost all the eight matches in their recent New Zealand tour, they had showed signs of improvement and it was not lost on Kohli. “It’s an equal battle. You can’t discount Bangladesh's batting as well. They did outstanding in New Zealand. Outstanding effort to score more than 350 runs in one day. It is phenomenal going at 4.5 runs an over throughout the day. It was something very special. So we can't take any aspect of their team lightly,” Kohli told the media in the pre-Test press conference Wednesday. “They have quality cricketers. The only way you can win Test matches is by persistence, application and discipline. I think we are going to focus on those things and not as skill battles in particular. We want a complete team application,” he said. Kohli believes Bangladesh have started to understand the mindset needed for Test cricket and said the visitors will only get better in future, provided they play enough matches. “I think they have the skill. They just don’t play that many Test matches to gain confidence as a squad. It’s very basic. They have become a very good one-day side because of the fact that they play so many one-dayers and they have their set combinations. If you don’t play Test cricket very often, you will never understand the mindset,” said Kohli. “That’s where it comes from. They have beaten all the sides in one-day cricket, because they know how to play the format. You can practice as much as you want but game time is important. Ability is going to be there. It’s the mindset that changes from format to format. I am sure that if they play more Test cricket they will become solid Test players and a solid Test team as well. I think it should be pushed. They certainly have the ability to compete at the Test level,” he explained.