After a stressful tour of Australia that included a four-match Test series, a tri-series and then the World Cup, the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper is set for the T20 challenge – the IPL starting this Wednesday.
India's Test and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain says more than a week's rest after a long and gruelling tour of Australia enough to recover for IPL
From Tests to ODIs to T20s, the life of an Indian cricketer is not as easy as it looks. To be successful, one has to quickly adjust to the different formats. Virat Kohli seems to be doing this perfectly like how fish takes to water. After a stressful tour of Australia that included a four-match Test series, a tri-series and then the World Cup, the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper is set for the T20 challenge – the IPL starting this Wednesday.
In Mumbai for his team jersey launch on Sunday, Kohli said he doesn't face any difficulty in adjusting from the longer format to the shortest but it's the other way round.
"Mental adjustments are there. It's not that difficult to play the T20s after the longer formats. Because you can be more relaxed, express more, and when you have world-class players, depth and the batsmen like the ones we have, we will play more freely," Kohli said.
"To play stress-free cricket in a shorter format helps players perform better. Tests to T20s is not so much of a problem. It is the other way round. T20s to Tests is more challenging for a batsmen to change. But IPL is a tournament everyone enjoys, everyone plays at a different level because they are relaxed. And the shift won't be a problem for those playing since long."
Ever since returning from Australia after a four-month tour, the Indian players have got just nine days in between the World Cup and the IPL. Won't it lead to a breakdown?
"Yes, we have been out for some time now. It was a very high intensity tour including Tests, tri-series and the World Cup. Body breakdown happens but as professional cricketers we learn how to recover. The 8-9 days we've got helped us recover well. Now we are looking forward to the IPL. It will be an exciting season."
Despite being one of the strongest teams in the league, the RCB has not one a single title, but Kohli is confident this time around.
"Our aim always is to do well. We've played two semis, one final and one CLT20 final, so it's time we crossed the hurdle. We have the team to do it. The players we have retained and those we bought will provide us with a good combination. If 11 of us believe we can do it, we will go far."
How does he fancy his team's chances this time around, considering they bought some big hitters in this auction?
"I think this season is different for us. For the last three four years, Chris (Gayle), AB (de Villiers) and myself played under a lot of pressure because the batting revolved around us. Look at other teams, they had a lot of depth in batting, so they could play freely. We had to play with caution plus look for runs which put us under pressure at times. But this time we have Dinesh Karthik, Darren Sammy, Mandeep Singh, S Badrinath. We have great batting with depth. We also have a great mix of Indian youngsters, great bowlers from around the world and real good power-hitters. Like you see AB playing in the World Cup, I'm sure he will be relieved, he can go out and play like that from ball one. It is pretty exciting for us as a team," Kohli said.
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 "Virat-Kohli (File photo)")
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