Asked for bouncy wickets keeping SA tour in mind: Kohli

Nagpur, Nov 23 - A candid India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday admitted that he had asked for bouncy wickets for the home series against Sri Lanka keeping in mind the more tougher tour to South Africa in January.

"Yes (I had), because unfortunately we get only two days before we fly to South Africa after this series gets over. So we have no choice but try to be in a game situation and think of what's coming ahead of us.

"Had we got a month off ideally, we would have done a proper preparation in a camp sort of scenario but we have to sort of make do with what we have," Kohli told reporters during the pre-match press conference ahead of the second Test against the islanders starting on Friday.

India drew with the tourists in the first rubber at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

India will finish their limited overs matches against Sri Lanka on December 24 (final T20I) before they fly off to South Africa on December 28.

"As usual cramped for time, which I think we needed to assess in future as well because we very easily assess the team when we go abroad but we don't look at how many days we have got to prepare before we go to a particular place to play," Kohli said.

"And everyone starts judging players when results come after Test matches. It should be a fair game, where we get to prepare the way we want to and then we are entitled to be criticised. So we thought this is an ample opportunity for us to challenge ourselves, put us in a situation (which they expect to encounter in South Africa)," he added.

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