Skipper Virat Kohli stresses his focus is on winning and not on hitting high notes during the Champions Trophy in England where he had a torrid run in 2014
India skipper Virat Kohli speaks to the media prior to the Indian team’s departure to UK for the Champions Trophy yesterday. India are defending champs since they won the 2013 title in England. PIC/SAMEER MARKANDE
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After the high of leading India to Test wins at home, Virat Kohli experienced a low in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) where his team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finished last with just three wins from 14 games. Even Kohli's personal form was a matter of concern. He managed to score 308 runs from 10 games against his 973 runs from 16 games in 2016. There is a concern that his IPL form may have an impact on India's campaign in the Champions Trophy (CT) which gets underway in England from June 1. But the way Kohli looked at the bizarre IPL experience showed that the
brat has matured.
IPL failure proved Kohli is human
Speaking to the media before the team's departure for the Champions Trophy yesterday, Kohli said: "After the kind of season we had, to have a tournament like that, it teaches you a lot about yourself as a person. It made me realise that perhaps you can't possibly do everything, as a human being you need to understand your limitations as well sometimes and you need to take a backward step.
"It was so bizarre. Everything we were trying were going against us. I had never experienced that in a side, all 15 players, not just 11, failing with such regularity, I have never seen that happen." Not exactly divulging his strategy for India to defend the CT title, Kohli said: "The three takeaways for us from the last CT was the opening partnership between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. It was as a revelation. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were on top of their game anyway, but the way the fast bowlers bowled and the way we fielded (perhaps we were the top fielding side in the tournament) were the other two key areas that worked for us.
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India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja checks out of the team hotel in Mumbai yesterday
Three big factors
"We believe that these are three factors which will play an important role when you play in conditions like England."
But the sword of his failures in England (during the 2014 Test series) is still hanging over his head. "I don't understand why it is like that," said a seemingly annoyed Kohli. "If players from other countries don't do well in India and go back, there is major hype around it. But if we don't do well away from India, it's as if there is a knife hanging around the neck. I don't believe in playing for redemption. My only motivation is to keep winning games for my country, and it doesn't matter where I am playing. People might look at it as a redemption opportunity but in my head I don't think of things like that at all. For me, it is just a game of cricket anywhere in the world."
Kohli can also take confidence from the fact that MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh are in the team. "They are so experienced that if they can play with freedom in the middle order, they are the best players to build a game according to the situation and take team out of difficult situations.
In the last series against England, we saw that both were playing with a lot of freedom and enjoying each other's company while batting.
Those kind of performances give a lot of confidence to the team. The atmosphere in the dressing room too changes for the better. They are undoubtedly two of our strongest pillars and when they play well, it rubs on to the others," said the skipper.
Both Dhoni and Yuvraj had a reasonably good IPL in comparison to Kohli and the captain thought that it may work in their favour given the highly competitive atmosphere of the competition. So it's a win-win situation for India in some ways.
Also Check photos: These Indian cricketers were Champions Trophy superstars
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