The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, and the head coach, Ravi Shastri addressed the media persons ahead of the Team India’s departure to participate in the ICC World Cup that is slated to begin on May 30 in England and Wales. Although this will be the third World Cup for Virat but, it will be the first time that he will be leading the team.
Talking about the same during the press conference on Tuesday, Kohli said, “It is the most challenging World Cup, any team can upset any team. The team will have to adapt very quickly. We expect all kind of scores in the World Cup, but there would be few high scoring games looking at the predictions.”
Undoubtedly, Kohli is the front-runner in the illustrious batting line-up India as he has a fair share of problems of its own. However, the only issue in the Indian team is the no.4 batting position as most of the other players in the team are the game-changers.
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Talking about the same, Shastri said, “If we play up to our potential the World Cup will be here. The pitches might be flat, in England overhead conditions will matter. If you go to London, it will. You have to be prepared to be flexible. This is an experienced unit, we have accomplished. Each one compliments each other.”
There is no denying the fact that Kohli is arguably the best batsman in the world right now, will hold the key to India’s chances in the quadrennial event where he is expected to cross 11,000 ODI runs and also add a few more centuries under his belt as the no. is already 41.
Talking about sustaining for a longer duration in the tournament, Kohli said, “It’s going to be challenging but the good thing is the gap, players will have time to re-group. In football player maintain their intensity for three-four months, like in the Premier League or La Liga. You can take motivation from anywhere when you talk about the Indian Army, if we can do anything for them, it will be the best.”
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When asked about facing teams like, Pakistan, England, etc, during the tournament, Shastri replied that they can’t think about one team as they need to maintain the intensity in the whole tournament to lift the trophy.
India’s lethal bowling attack, comprising of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami among others, is quite balanced and has been one of the most potent in the recent years. However, Kohli and Shastri will be facing a good headache of whether to play with an extra all-rounder along with Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal or go with both the wrist-spinners.
Before India begin their World Cup 2019 campaign against South Africa on June 5, they will play warm-up games against New Zealand (May 25) and Bangladesh (May 28).
