India-Pakistan fixture in ICC Champions Trophy is just another game, nothing changes for us: Virat Kohli
New Delhi: Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli attended the press conference ahead of the team’s departure to England for ICC Champions Trophy. While the press conference started with Kohli answering questions about the team’s preparation, the conclusion came with him giving the reporters much needed insights into the India-Pakistan clash.
Speaking about their highly anticipated opening encounter against Pakistan, the India skipper said, “As a cricketer we can’t control things outside the stadium. It is a big match we understand but in our heads there is no difference. The hype and atmosphere around the India-Pakistan match is beyond our control, but for us it is the same as any other match.”
“We prepare the same way for every other game. The atmosphere in the stadium is different but in our heads, nothing really changes whether you are playing Australia, England or South Africa,” he added.
kohli further added that there is no need to get too emotional ahead of the match and a check on emotions need to be kept to get the best result out.
The 28-year-old also answered questions on the team’s composition and the need to adapt to conditions in England.
“The last Champions Trophy helped us find the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. The spinners did well but the performance of the pacers was also a big revelation. You need to play according to the situation and we need to get used to the conditions as quickly as possible,” Kohli said.
Speaking about the importance of veterans MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, Virat said that if the duo play with freedom, a lot of pressure will be taken off from the shoulders of other team members.
Kohli also expects the tournament to be a lot more competitive than the World Cup.
“I think because the tournament is shorter and involves all the top teams, the Champions Trophy is far more competitive than other big tournament. It will grab a lot of eye balls. So we are up for the challenge,” said the Indian captain.
India squad for champions tropy:
Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami
India’s schedule:
May 26: India vs Bangladesh, warm-up
May 28: India vs New Zealand, warm-up
June 4: India v Pakistan, Birmingham, 3:00 PM IST (Group B)
June 8: India v Sri Lanka, London, 3:00 PM IST (Group B)
June 11: India v South Africa, London, 3:00 PM IST (Group B)
