Champions trophy: Ruthless' India out to defend title

Mumbai: “India will not take undue pressure in England in their defence of the Champions Trophy title,” captain, Virat Kohli said here on Wednesday. “The first challenge is to not think about the fact that we are defending the title. The last time, we enjoyed our cricket and ended up winning and in the process created a team which did well for long.

“We have a few changes now but the mindset is similar — to enjoy the cricket and the results will follow. We have done it in the last couple of years. In Test cricket we have reached the top. Ruthlessness is something we speak all the time to close series off. We will go with that mindset,” he added.

India won the ICC World Cup at home in 2011 and went on to show their supremacy by winning Champions Trophy as well in 2013, defeating hosts England in the final. Kohli felt the IPL was not ideal preparation for the Champions Trophy but said it was different for different players.

“I don’t think you can have too much similarity in both formats. But I think from getting to stay in the zone, in terms of game time you get, it helps to be match ready but it is different for different people.

“Some can’t connnect to two formats and some connect to all formats. It helps you just being match fit, having rhythm of bowling, flow of batting, in that mental set up of scoring runs and tough situations you face. You can carry that forward. In the IPL you play against world class players in all teams and they provided very competitive games before the Champions Trophy,” he said.
India won the Champions Trophy under Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kohli who is leading India for the first time in an ICC event said the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan was the big gains from that tournament.
“Last time, the biggest takeways from the tournament was the opening of Rohit and Shikhar, It was a massive factor plus Ashwin and Jadeja, the way they bowled. We had the best fielding side back then. We would like to stick to the same strengths. These factors will be vital in England,” said Kohli.
Kohli revealed that he would like to see Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh roll back the years and play with same freedom as they did during the last ODI series against England.
“Dhoni and Yuvi have a lot of experience, they need freedom to play their game,” he added.