India's fielding coach R Sridhar on Friday said that skipper Virat Kohli would not miss a chance to play for the country as long as he is fit and would ask for rest only when his body demands. India are scheduled to tour South Africa for a full series early next year and many feel that Kohli should be rested during the two-month long ongoing home series against Sri Lanka, but the captain insisted that he would ask for rest only when needed.
"Each member of this team is very proud to represent his country at any given opportunity. Most players in the team love to play every match. Knowing Virat, he wears his pride on his sleeve. As long as his body allows he would not miss a single second of the match," Sridhar told a news conference after the second day's against Sri Lanka.
Asked why three-Test old Hardik Pandya was taken off the squad after the all-rounder sought for rest, Sridhar said: "The parameters we take into consideration is the workload."
"The time he spent at the crease, overs, batting...based on that, the team management takes a call on who needs to be rotated."
The Indian team is considered a supremely confident fielding side and Sridhar gave credit to players' putting in a lot of hard work.
"We are not doing any magic trick. As far as fielding goes, the formula is very simple, the more you practice the better you get. You can see the results because it's a controllable skill of the game, unlike bowling and batting which one cannot control.
"So we work hard on the things we can control and I may sound like a broken record here but the only way to get better is to practice a lot and that's what this team does," he said.
"The fitter the player, the better the result on the field. You are more agile," Sridhar added.
On Suresh Raina, Sridhar said once the batsman is fit, he would be a "part of the whole process".
"He's a fabulous fielder. Once he is through with the fitness parameters, I'm sure he will be very much part of the whole process," he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
