London: Virat Kohli arrived at the United Kingdom heartbroken but the Manchester blast has failed to break his unwavering focus on cricket, as the India captain gears up for a tournament that is of ‘paramount importance’ to his side.
Defending champions India will begin their campaign in the Champions Trophy against arch rivals Pakistan, June 4 in Birmingham, which is less than 100 miles from the affected city.
“First, what happened (blast) here a few days back was really saddening and very disturbing for all who saw it. So, yeah, I mean, for a few people it can be sort of a nervous time. But I don’t think as a squad you have time to focus on these factors, because eventually you understand that you’re here for a sporting tournament,” Kohli said on arrival.
“…And that for us remains paramount in our thoughts. I personally don’t feel any nervousness as such. I saw life resume pretty normally. And that’s always a healthy sign,” Kohli added.
The Indian batting mainstay seemed satisfied with the security procedures in place. “We have security briefings throughout the day and we are pretty much relaxed as we are being taken care of very well,” Kohli pointed out.
Pointing out the significance of the tournament, he said, “I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of transparency about the issue, because there’s a lot at stake for everyone here. The cricketers, the ICC, ECB, everyone is worried about everyone’s security. So I’m sure it’s going to be taken care of,” asserted the Indian skipper.
Entering the ODI tournament after a long home Test season followed by the IPL, the Indian batting mainstay stressed on the need to be fit physically as well as mentally to adapt.
“I think the only challenge I feel is taking care of your body. Mentally, it’s up to individuals to base their game in a way that they can switch pretty quickly, because that is the need of the game in this day and age,” he said.
‘Pressure off MSD’
Virat Kohli said Thursday that his team have strengthened their lower middle-order and that has eased the pressure on Mahendra Singh Dhoni to finish off the games. “The one thing we needed to fortify was our lower middle-order contribution. Too much burden was coming on MS in the past couple of years, was what we felt. He wasn’t able to express himself purely because of the fact there are not enough guys showing composure to finish off games with him. But having had Kedar (Jadhav) and Hardik (Pandya) do so well in that particular phase of the innings that has strengthened our squad really well,” said Kohli.
