Not keeping a tab on IPL games of players: Virat
BENGALURU: Three days have not passed since India’s loss to Australia in the ODI series, and the crest on Virat Kohli’s T-shirt has changed from the BCCI logo to that of Royal Challengers Bangalore. For a professional player, rest can become such an obscure word sometimes.
Kohli was present here on Saturday as the Indian Premier League (IPL) team’s captain, but with the impending World Cup in England, talks of the national team often took precedence in the media interaction.
The IPL ends mid-may while the World Cup starts on May 30. Kohli had earlier mentioned about World Cup probables’ responsibility to manage their workload in IPL. He, however, clarified that the Indian team management has not set the number of matches that they should play.
“We have not put a tab on any player. If I am able to play 15 or 12 or 10 games it does not necessarily mean other guys can only play that much. My body can allow me to play only certain number of games and I need to be smart about it. Someone else’s body might be less or more capable than mine. That’s an individual thing. The responsibility lies with the player and everyone wants to play the World Cup. You don’t want to miss out on a such big event,” Kohli said on the sidelines of the RCB app launch.
“In Indian team we have following a culture of pursuing excellence every day. The players should take IPL as another opportunity.”
RCB coach Gary Kirsten added: “We do understand all the international players barring the Indian team will be called back to their national teams. We have to accept that. We have been international players ourselves and we understand the demands that they have. We will be very reasonable in that space. Ultimately, every player needs to know that their priority is RCB for the next few days.”
Ashish Nehra, RCB’S bowling coach, said given the fact that India play their first match at the World Cup on June 5 against South Africa, there will be a three week period that Indian players will get to recover even if they play the IPL final.
“In case of a fast bowler the more you play the better you get. If somebody tells a player to skip the IPL and go directly to the World Cup then that is not right way. Ultimately handling the pressure in IPL matches is better than any practice session,” Nehra said.
DECISION-MAKING
Coming to RCB’S run in the IPL, Kohli said the losses in the past was a result of wrong decisionmaking. RCB are the only team, apart from Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils (now renamed as Delhi Capitals), to have not won an IPL title.
RCB entered the final three times and ended up on the losing side on all occasions. “We failed in our task in the past because of wrong decision making. It would not be right to say it was our bad luck that we lost. Ultimately one makes his or her own fortune. If I bad decision and other team is making a good choice under pressure situation then that team will win. It’s our shortcoming that we have not been successful,” Kohli said.
Kohli was hopeful that the current squad will up to the task. “You can’t predict the result but we have a good combination of players. I hope we show the spirit to fight against all odds. I hope the players to committed on a daily basis and handle themselves well on an off the field. This is my team and I don’t see myself leaving RCB for any other franchise.”