Virat Kohli not bothered about the fact that middle order remains untested

Defending champions India haven’t had much trouble as far as their batting has been concerned in the ongoing edition of the ICC Champions Trophy. They posted two totals in excess of 300, and jogged to a target of 192 against South Africa in a virtual quarter-final. The Indian openers have been mighty consistent, especially Shikhar Dhawan, who seems to extend his love affair with the Champions Trophy.

Captain of the Indian Team Virat Kohli hasn’t had a bad tournament himself either. He missed out against Sri Lanka but was amongst the runs in the other league matches. The concern for the Men in Blue, however, remains the lack of exposure to their middle order. India lost a maximum of 6 wickets against Sri Lanka, but their middle order was not required to come out to bat against Pakistan and South Africa.

Middle order raring to go: Virat Kohli

Kohli, however, dismissed the idea that lack of batting time for the middle and lower order could pose problems in the upcoming semi-final against Bangladesh. He said, “No, that’s not a concern. Obviously, as a batsman you want to finish off games, so you are not necessarily going to get out thinking my middle-order hasn’t got any game time.”

“So, given an opportunity, everyone would like to finish games convincingly and, as I said everyone is batting well,” Kohli said on the eve of the match.

Virat only believed that lack of batting time during matches would allow the likes of Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav to pounce on the opportunity and subsequently deliver whenever they are required to.

“In the practice games, everyone has got a hit, and we know Kedar and Hardik are playing really well at the moment, so we are not bothered at all. Rather they (Kedar and Hardik) are looking for an opportunity if the team is in a bit of trouble,” Kohli quipped.

“I am sure those two guys are going to step up and take the team through along with Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) as well. Those guys are actually waiting for opportunities, and that’s a great mindset to have,” he said.

“They are not sitting comfortably thinking ‘oh these guys are going to do the job’. They are actually prepared if a crisis situation comes in… ‘we want to be the match winners’ (that) is the energy they are creating,” Virat Kohli added.

A new day, a new match

Pressure games in ICC tournaments have become the bread and butter for the current Indian Cricket Team, but Virat Kohli believed it will have no bearing for them on a new day.

“Yeah, we have played these kind of games before quite a few times but there are no guarantees in this sport. As we have seen in the league stages as well, a lot of teams have surprised the opposition, and we are certainly not taking anything for granted,” Kohli said.

“We will use whatever momentum we have gained in this tournament to execute what we want to. We are not going to go according to past results and what we have done in the past tournaments. Going into a big game like this, we are going to treat it as how we treated the last game, and our mindset does not differ,” the skipper added.

Kohli also made it clear that India would take on Bangladesh with an unchanged XI. Consequently, Umesh Yadav will once again be warming the bench.

India to play with an unchanged XI

“We gave a lot of people chances in the practice games and he (Umesh) did bowl well in that game but that does not mean that you necessarily play someone who has done well against a particular opposition in a practice game,” Kohli said.

The captain also lauded Ashwin’s performance against South Africa, who made a comeback for the Indian team after having last played in the riveting Test series against Australia.

“I think Ashwin was brilliant in the last game, and I don’t see any good reason to change that. The team played really well. It was a complete performance, and I certainly don’t think that there is any need to change anything,” Virat Kohli shared.

India might have defeated Bangladesh recently on several occasions, but that didn’t stop Kohli from being respectful of Bangladesh as an opposition.

Bangladesh are doing really well: Kohli

“It is no surprise anymore to anyone that they are doing really well, and they have really improved their cricket, and it is a credit to their set-up and the kind of players they have now who are taking more responsibility,” the captain said.

“Bangladesh is a very dangerous side on their day and everyone realises that. Bangladesh have taken huge strides. I mean they are in the top-eight sides in the world. So yeah, they are a very competitive side,” Kohli added.

Kohli was visibly put off by a question regarding the minor controversy in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final, to which he replied, “It’s been 24 months! I seriously don’t think that anyone is thinking about that game. We have had so many matches against each other since then, and we are certainly not going out to prove a point to anyone.”

“We just want to play good cricket as a side. Our opposition could be anyone. We are not really thinking about what’s happened in the past or things that go on at the international level,” Kohli concluded.