Test Defeat in Sri Lanka Opened Everyone's Eyes - Ravi Shastri

India completed a historic home season after whitewashing Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20I series and bringing an end to a dominant 12 months at home when they won 37 matches in a calendar year, second best to Australia’s 38 which they achieved in 2003.

India won all the limited-overs series against England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand and finished number two in the ODI rankings just one point behind South Africa.

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In the Test format, India triumphed over Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and finished 2017 as world number one. India had very rare hiccups in the dominant home season, as they dominated almost all the touring sides and won a majority of the series convincingly.

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However, the road gets tougher for Virat Kohli and his men when they travel to the rainbow nation in the New Year.

The first Test begins on 5th January at the Newlands in Cape Town, and India’s coach Ravi Shastri has backed his boys and is confident about the team carrying the dominant form overseas as well.

In an interview with India Today’s Boria Majumdar, Shastri said Team India will play with the same intensity and mentality and will be looking forward to continuing the winning streak.

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Rohit Sharma has been interesting with the bat in the traditional format. Photo Credit: AFP.India has now won nine consecutive Test series, and one more series would create a new World Record, as they will overtake Australia’s record of nine victories. Shastri spoke about the streak and said,

“Our (current) brand of cricket started in Australia, and then the Test match defeat in Sri Lanka opened everyone’s eyes. We sat in the dressing-room for two hours after the game and each player asked questions of himself. The rest is history. They were very honest with themselves, and the boys said they would never be tentative again,”