Virat Kohli Delivers Message For Youngsters Ahead Of T20 World Cup

Ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup, India skipper Virat Kohli has said it would be tough for the team to win ICC events unless the middle-order steps up and delivers in pressure situations if the top-order has a rare failure. India have not laid their hands on an ICC trophy since winning the 2013 Champions Trophy in UK.

They have falling at the semifinal or final stage since then. India made it to the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup and the semifinal of the 2016 T20 World Cup. They also made it to the semifinal of 2015 and 2019 World Cup as well as the semifinal of the 2017 Champions Trophy.

India will be desperate to end the drought when they travel to Australia for the T20 World Cup in October this year. And ahead of the marquee event, Virat Kohli has urged his teammates to rise to the occasion.

“We need guys who are ready till Nos six and seven to win you games. It can’t be dependent on two guys or three guys in the batting line-up. You know, that’s not how you win ICC tournaments,” said Virat Kohli ahead of T20 series opener against Sri Lanka.

“So that’s our main focus to reveal situations to guys and expect them to come into their own and become those fearless match winners that we should have going into a big tournament,” he added.

Virat Kohli further said the upcoming T20I series will make it more or less clear as to who will be India’s match-winners in the tournament. The onus will be on the likes of Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer to deliver and boost the team-management’s confidence.

“These next few series is going to be very exciting to see who stands up in pressure situations, how they react when may be Rohit or myself or KL or Shikhar at the top have not fired.

“I think because the tournament is in Australia, you will need these many options and back-ups ready to be able to take firstly your strongest XI or strongest squad and then have those back-ups in place, who also can come and do the job.

Also Read: Virat Kohli Suffers Injury Scare Ahead Of First Sri Lanka T20I