Florida (USA): After the semi-final exit in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, India skipper Virat Kohli has shifted his focus to the forthcoming T20 World Cup, slated to be played in Australia next year.
Kohli said that they want to build their confidence from the game they will be playing before the competition and all their focus will be to figure out their best 15 players.
“We have 25-26 games before the T20 World Cup and we want to look at all the games to build a solid combination – conditions-based, obviously, because when you play in Australia, the combination will be different. And according to your team’s strength, and how a player is performing in different conditions, this is what we’re trying to figure out. It’s a very normal process in cricket at this level that whatever games you have, you use it to build towards that global tournament,” Kohli said during a press conference here on Friday.
“Having said that, there’s no match that you take lightly because you want results as well. As a team, if you are looking at building the confidence, then results should follow the processes and combinations. So, it boils down to the players eventually. Whoever plays and in whatever combination and with how much responsibility they play and how they deliver for the team. On these things it depends that how you, as a team, result-wise, process-wise and combination-wise move forward. That’s our focus till next year that we figure out our best 15 and our best 11,” he added.
Moreover, Kohli is not worried about their performance in the shortest format of the game as he feels India Premier League have given sufficient exposure to players.
“I think the good thing is with T20 cricket we’re not really worried about the mindset of the players because having played IPL back home for so many years and being good performers in the T20 format, these guys have a lot of composure,” Kohli said.
“Especially playing on small fields in India where the pitches are good and they play in front of 40-50 thousand people regularly. So, they get the best of the players in the world out or they score against them. So, I don’t think it is going to be too daunting or too intimidating for them to be regularly playing T20 cricket at the international level,” he added.
Kohli praised the players calling them ‘proven performers’.
“All these are proven performers and we actually have a lot of belief in their ability. We know giving the ball to anyone at any stage of the game, they’ll do the job. Everyone is a professional here and they have come because of a lot of T20 experience and that is why these players are backed. If you look at the IPL you will have so many options, but you choose 15 which are the best. That’s what it was down to. And you expect them to do the job on the day,” Kohli said.
The first T20I international match between India and West Indies will be played today at Central Broward Regional Park in Florida. (ANI)
