The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is expected to be the biggest talking topic throughout this year. The multi-nation tournament will begin in England and Wales from May 30 and the final is scheduled to be played on July 14 at Lord’s. Every team has started their preparations for the tournament and in the same order; they are trying every possible team combination going into the World Cup.
Team India is being rated as the red-hot favorite to lift the Cup. They have the most balanced side in the One-Day International setup and they want to fine-tune their combination a bit. Meanwhile, Indian skipper Virat Kohli is worried about bad habits, which his teammates can pick during the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL).
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After playing two T20Is and five-match ODI series against Australia, Indian players will head into the IPL, which will be all before their World Cup opening game against South Africa on June 5. Thus, Kohli wants Indian players to not develop can bad habit, which can harm India’s chances at the World Cup.
“All the people who are going to be part of the World Cup squad, they have to make sure that their games don’t go too much away from the one-day mold of things. That means we will have to be very wary of the bad habits that might creep in during the IPL. From a personal point of view, I would look to continue in the same way that I have in all formats over the years and not do anything fancy because as I said, the frame of mind is the most important thing getting into the World Cup,” Kohli stated.
He added “We need 15 people who are confident and mentally happy about where their game is at that particular moment. That will take a consistent effort from all the players during the IPL to keep a check on that. The moment we enter the nets and create bad habits, and you lose momentum, you lose batting form, it is very difficult to get it back in a tournament like the World Cup. So from that point of view, everyone will have to protect that mindset and be aligned towards what the team requires of them.”
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The 30-year-old further stressed on managing the workload during the tussle of IPL. He insisted the players must share their load accordingly, so their body can be in good shape at the World Cup.
Kohli said “The amount you practice, with the amount of travel during the IPL and the number of games in different conditions, in different temperatures, it is going to be challenging, to be honest. But as a cricketer, you have to map out how many practice sessions you really need. If you are hitting the ball well, there is no need to go to a practice session and tire yourself out for three hours whereas you can utilize that particular phase to rest and recover even more.”
He quoted before concluding “I think those things need to be kept in mind. If your team is in a great position during the tournament, you don’t mind taking 2-3 games off also. It all depends on how you feel physically but everyone has to be really honest about it to themselves and accordingly see how they feel and not push themselves to the limit that might hamper the Indian team later on. I think we will all have to take responsibility for that.”
