Kanpur: India's Test captain Virat Kohli is a man on a mission.

He wants to see his team reach the top of the world by the end of the season. And to do that, Kohli is ready to explore all possibilities and play fearless cricket, no matter who the opposition is.

On Wednesday, when Kohli interacted with the media on the eve of the first Test against New Zealand, he made it clear that he believed in the adage fortune favours the brave.

"We have to play fearless cricket because more often than not, if you are fearless, results will come. This is because because you are willing to take extra risks in the course of the game. We believe we certainly have what it takes to be the best team in the world. We definitely believe that," Kohli said.

"One area we have tapped into is belief. It's something that a lot of young players can lack coming into international cricket. There can be a lot of insecurities... Whether I'll play in the next game or whether my position is secured or not. It's all about helping them getting rid of that feeling. When you step onto the pitch, you need to tell yourself, 'I own this position for the next eight-ten years in Test cricket for India," said the India captain.

Kohli said his team have the kind of self-belief that made them win a series of matches in the last few seasons. "That's the only way you can go out there, be confident and express yourself how good you are, and that's what this team has done. That's why we've been able to win seven-odd Test matches in the last 13 or 14 that we played. It is because we wanted to go out there and play bold cricket and take some risks," he said.

At the same time, Kohli is someone, who also believes in striking a balance and keep a watch on the opposition.

"I think what's really important is to find the balance between being positive and being solid at the same time. If someone is bowling a good spell you want to pay respect to the bowler, but not so much that you get under pressure. So it's a right balance of putting the bowler under pressure and at the same time respecting the good balls that he bowls," he said.

Praising the current New Zealand side, Kohli said the visitors, too, follow the principle of playing fearless cricket. "Initially, it was Brendon McCullum, who got those ideas into the team...

"Play fearless cricket, that's one thing which stood out for me in their mentality. Cricket is not the end of the world for them, they just enjoy the game. I think they have been able to detach themselves from those pressures and that's why they got success in last couple of years," said Kohli.

Asked whether his team have become a bit vulnerable against spin bowling, Kohli said he was looking forward to improve in that area.

"We lost a Test match in Sri Lanka because we could not play spin the way we wanted to," he said.

"But we are trying to rectify that. The team wants to improve in that aspect of the game.

"What happened is that there was so much talk about us not being able to play well away from home that we kept focussing on playing fast bowling, and we got really good at it. We countered conditions really well in England, in bursts, in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

"But, we sort of didn't pay that much attention to spin. That was one area we could have worked more on.

"Now we are putting in more effort, to face the spinners longer at the nets and practising small little things by ourselves - someone might sweep, someone might play off the back foot, someone might step out - whatever it is.

"If you want to be a champion side, you don't want to give the oppositions any window to get into the game," said Kohli.

Last year, in Sri Lanka, India lost a Test while chasing 176 with the home-team spinner Rangan Herath running through the batting line up.