ICC World Twenty20: Tackle pressure like a challenge

Star India batsman Virat Kohli was a picture of confidence and diffidence on eve of India’s match against New Zealand, a team which has never lost to the hosts in this format. Much like his polished game which is flamboyant like his tattoos and yet as solid as the ground he struts, Kohli talked of how he and the team is confident of looking at the pressure like a challenge to be tackled. He also spoke of the role of openers and how the middle order has not got too many balls to play till now. Meenakshi Rao attended the pre-match media interaction. Excerpts:

What is the spirit of the team like?

We are pretty confident about the way we’ve been playing. We have won 10 out of our last 11 games and we are taking some good momentum into the World Cup. The Asia Cup was a good preparation for us. For a big tournament, getting the feel of playing the big teams, but this is going to be far more challenging. There are teams from all over the world competing and if you look at both the groups, the teams are very strong and very evenly matched. It is going to be tough, but we would like to focus on our strengths. The oppositions do not matter for us as much at this stage. Obviously, we need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition players, but it has more to do with the way we have played and continue the same. It will also be important to execute the same things which we have done successfully.

Now that the team in in sixth gear, how much is the pressure of winning?

Obviously, it’s a big event, the whole feel and the vibe is different as opposed to a bilateral series. We all have experienced that before, so it’s nothing new. The key is to learn from the past where the experience is required in such tournaments and ICC events, because you can get carried away or even over-anxious or even over-excited. Those experiences are not great for any side going into big tournament. The experience that we have from playing such events in the past is to stay on the ground as much as possible and focus on skills that need to be executed on the field.

How do you prepare going into such a big event?

There can obviously always be a lot of focus shifting in terms of watching other oppositions play on rest days and stuff like that. It is very important to stay away from all those things and focus on what the team is doing. It is not important to see which teams win or lose so that your team goes through. These distractions tend to make you forget what you have to do for your own preparations. I think in these cases, awareness counts big time in these tournaments.

Can you talk about the role of openers and your role vis a vis Shikhar and Rohit Sharma?

Shikhar’s role in the side is pretty clear, which is to go out there and play his natural game. His job is to try to take on the first six overs and the fielding restrictions. I think Rohit’s role would be along the same lines as well. We have been able to bring in awareness while batting in the first 10-12 overs which obviously helps a side build chase-totals nowadays. 

Source: The Pioneer,  15 March, 2016