XtraTime Web Desk: It doesn’t matter to India skipper Virat Kohli whether his team is favourite or underdog as according to him at the end of the day the team needs to go out and perform on the field.
“It doesn’t matter to me whether your are the favourite or the underdog, you still have to go out and perform and do well on the field. If you are an underdog it’s not a given that pressure will only be on the opposition. Or if you are the favourites, it’s not certain that the underdogs will come out and be fearless the whole time,” said Kohli while talking to the media on the pre match press-conference.
Though India skipper Virat Kohli scored 134 runs in 10 innings during his last outing in England but he dismissed any thought of proving himself on English soil.
“I am not in a frame of mind to prove myself in any country. I just want to perform for the team. I want to score runs for the team and take Indian cricket forward,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.
“What gives me clarity is to believe in my game. It boils down to belief, otherwise even on a flat pitch in India, you will get out even if the ball is doing nothing. You must believe you can score a big hundred on a green wicket as well.
“Over the last few years I have been more comfortable in my head space and how I think about the game, my own game as well. I am pretty confident of my ability and that is what I am going to focus on.”
The India skipper said clarity was the key for every member of the team going into the five-Test series starting at Edgbaston on Wednesday, denying the prospect facing England’s record wicket-taker again was playing in his mind.
“It’s pretty simple. You must be focused on what you need to do. As a batsman, focus on plans you need to take to the middle and follow your instinct. You have to have total confidence and belief in your ability. That is something that gives you clarity when you go out to bat.
He acknowledged the Indian team management’s focus was over the struggling opener Shikhar Dhawan and No 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, and whether to pick chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav ahead of the experienced off-spinner R Ashwin, who has a poor record away from home.
England named leg-spinner Adil Rashid as the lone spinner in the eleven, leaving out off-spinner Moeen Ali, suggesting the pitch will aid seamers.
Kohli said the eleven would only be finalized later on Tuesday and team balance would be the priority. “Along with the management you have to sit and take a call. It’s all your gut feeling, if five people on the table believe that it is how you got to go, you go with it. That is why we have been pushing forward as a team.
“Once we make them, whether they come off or not, we don’t look at them because they have been taken at the best interests of the team at that particular point in time. There is total honesty and ownership all around the squad.”
Happy with the team preparation going into the first Test, Kohli said it didn’t matter whether India, the No 1 ranked team, were seen as favourites or under dogs. “If you are an underdog doesn’t mean the pressure will be there only on the opposition. Or if you are favourites, the underdog will come out and just be fearless. It is a balance that is required and we have played enough cricket to understand the things that happen on the field.”