The stand-in skipper of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli, has said that his young team will do well on the Zimbabwe tour.
Some senior players including the regular captain MS Dhoni have been rested for the 5- match ODI series against Zimbabwe and on their places; some youngsters who have been consistent in domestic circuit have been included in the squad.
The team flew to Zimbabwe yesterday evening. Before that, Kohli addressed a press conference.
When asked about the lack of experience in this Indian side, Kohli said, “I believe that experience is not that important in limited overs format of the game. It’s the hunger which matters. All the players in the team should have that hunger for success.”
“It’s a young team and all the guys are desperate to prove their worth. There are some very talented players in this squad.”
When asked about Parvez Rasool who has become the first player from Jammu & Kashmir to be selected in the Indian team, Kohli said, “It’s nice to see that the players from smaller venues are coming through these days. I am very happy for Parvez. He is a hard working guy and he deserved to be given this opportunity. If he gets a game on the tour, he will definitely try to make his mark.”
When asked about the recent doping scandal in which his Delhi teammate Pradeep Sangwan was found guilty, Kohli said, “Doping is something which is not good for the game. It’s a serious offence and whoever does that should be punished.”
When asked who has inspired him the most in life, Kohli said, “It’s Sachin Tendulkar. He is a superhero for me. I respect him a lot. My mother has also been a big motivation for me in life.”
The former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, has said that Mumbai Indians are the strongest team in this year’s IPL and the chances of them winning the tournament this year are very good.
The IPL has already started and Mumbai Indians have played three games out of which they have won two and lost one. The match that they lost was very close and they remained just two runs behind the target.
When Ganguly was asked which team is the strongest in this year’s IPL, he said, “I think it’s Mumbai Indians. This year, they have made a few changes both in the team and in the support staff.”
“John Wright is their head coach now and I know him very well. He is a great motivator. Also, Anil Kumble as mentor will be a big help for the young players.”
“They have given the responsibility of captaincy to Ricky Ponting who I think is one of the best captains of all times.”
“Now, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar don’t need to worry about the team selection and all that. They will play freely now and you will see better performances from both these guys in this IPL.”
When asked about his home team Kolkata Knight Riders, Ganguly said, “They are the reigning champs, but, they shouldn’t carry it as a burden. They shouldn’t be thinking that we are the defending champions. So, we need to win every game. This will not help them. They should rather be thinking that what happened in the last IPL has gone now. This is a new campaign and we should make a fresh start.”
Kolkata Knight Riders had become the IPL Champions last year by defeating Chennai Super Kings in the final match. That match was played at M. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
The Indian top order batsman, Virat Kohli, has said that he is not thinking about the captaincy and he just wants to focus on his game at the moment. Virat gave this statement while talking to the correspondent of an India news paper yesterday.
After India’s early exit from the recently played World T20 Championship, there have been reports that the selectors are planning to appoint Virat Kohli as the T20 captain of India.
When asked whether he wants to lead the Indian team, Kohli said, “Every player in the world wants to lead his national team at some point of time in his career and I am not an exception. But, I am not thinking about it at the moment. Whenever, the selectors will give me this responsibility, I will try to do justice to it.”
“Right now, I just want to work hard on my batting. I want to play some big innings in the upcoming test series against England.”
Virat Kohli was seen crying after India’s exit from the World T20 Championship. When asked about that, Virat replied, “It was a big disappointed for all the players. We won four out of the five games and still, we didn’t manage to qualify for the semis. We should have batted with a bit more aggression in that last super 8 match against South Africa. But, we didn’t do that. We needed to stop South Africa at 121 or less and it was not an easy task for the bowlers.”
When asked about his relationship with the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat said, “We are very good mates on and off the field. We were not that close when I first came into the side, but, as the time went on, we became really good friends.”
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