Indian batting mainstay Virat Kohli today said the Asia Cup starting here tomorrow is a perfect platform to assess the team's strengths, weaknesses and its current standing on the global stage ahead of the big-ticket World Twenty20 next month.
India lock horns with Bangladesh in the tournament-opener of the Asia Cup T20 here tomorrow, beginning their final phase of preparations for next month's World T20 to be held in India.
"Going into the World Cup as I said, the conditions are going to be similar and we will probably be playing all these oppositions at some stage. So, as many teams as we play before the World Cup, it gives us a great opportunity to assess what the teams are like, what the balance is like, what their
strengths and weaknesses are, and where do we stand compared
to them. You can see it (Asia Cup) as a whole package before the World Cup," Kohli said at the pre-match press conference here.
India begin the tournament on the back of some very impressive outings in the slam-bang format against Australia and Sri Lanka.
"Asia Cup has always been a challenging tournament, it's like a mini event as far as the sub-continental teams are concerned. It's an opportunity to test yourself as I said against the best teams in the sub continent. It's a competitive tournament with different opposition with different set of skills testing you all the time."
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's availability in the opening game of the tournament remains doubtful after he suffered a muscle spams injury during a training session. This has prompted the BCCI to rush Parthiv Patel as a back-up.
Kohli did not clarify on whether Dhoni will sit out of tomorrow's match.
"With Parthiv coming in, we will have to sit down and see if that situation comes where he has to play. We will then have to sort out a
combination, the best possible for the team in terms of the batting order but, as of now, we cannot. Unless we have a decision we cannot sit down and make a concrete plan.
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"Obviously a discussion will take place, it will happen sometime today during the practise session as to what needs to be done if that situation arises. Yeah, obviously, it's going to be different from what we have been playing with till now. We just have to wait and see how the situation pans out," Kohli said.
Emboldened by the recent success at home and away in the T20 format, Dhoni and recently said that the team is in auto- pilot mode, and Kohli looked at the remark very positively.
"MS was spot on because I think it comes from the fact that we play a lot of T20 cricket. In IPL, we get so many games to play and execute our skills, so you keep getting better every season.
"If you see the number of games being played by players in the IPL, the numbers are very high, so everyone knows what needs to be done and at what stage of the game in that tournament. I think even MS is not required to put in so much thought on what needs to be done because the players are experienced. That takes the load off. So that's why he said the team is in auto pilot mode. I think that's what he meant.
"That everyone knows what needs to be done at what stage throughout the 20 overs, be it batting, bowling or in the field. I think it's a very good atmosphere the team is in right now. Everyone is very sure what needs to be done.
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England finally broke their Eden jinx where they have never won in 30 years, with Ben Stokes singing the redemption song after being smashed for four sixes in the last over of the World T20 final against the West Indies at the same venue.
"I really felt bad for him in the final. We all saw it. I feel he is someone who takes a lot of pride in his cricket and he's very proud to play for England. I saw the disappointment and the sadness on his face when England lost that final.
"But he's a guy with great character, he's always fighting to win games for England. We all see that in Test cricket. Even today he was really motivated to win the game for them. You could tell from his body language.
"The way he bowled, the way he batted and the way he was running in the end as well, while he was batting. I mean every side is pleased to have cricketers like that. And nowadays everyone does play with that mindset. But I am sure it feels nice for him to have sort of reversed the tales here as far as this ground is concerned."
It was another 300-plus affair as the series went into the record books with total runs of 2090 in aggregate, which bettered the 1892 scored in the Afro-Asia Cup in 2007.
"It's hard for bowlers to execute their plans with dew. I would not like to say but the one-day game and T20 game is more batsmen dominated."
The 2-1 result was special for Kohli who rated England as a batting-heavy side.
"They bat till 10th. This series win makes it all the more special that we are up against a side that probably has the best balance going around in ODI cricket.
"If you have people batting till 10, bowling all-rounders and good quick bowlers. We bowled well till the 45th and we expected them to hard in the last 5. I was pretty happy as a captain with what England scored by the end of 50 overs.
"With the bat, yes, we could have made partnerships bigger, especially mine and Yuvi. Maybe the game would have been different. The situations are very different in cricket than what you expect them to be. Two youngsters stepping up was more pleasing to see rather than two experienced guys taking the team through. Opportunity for them and they played really well."
Kohli disagreed that England have outshone them in batting.
"We have scored more than them twice. Even today we were within closing distance off the target. If I sit down as a captain and expect teams to get out at 250 and 260s, I'm expecting the total opposite of the way the game is going nowadays.
"I think the teams are scoring 300 plus, you have to make up your mind of going out there and scoring more than that or score more than of what you think they are capable of chasing. The game is boiling down to how much impact the batsmen can have because the bowlers are finding it very difficult especially when you have dew around.
