What’s the story?
Indian captain Virat Kohli has played down the impact of an unbalanced schedule on their chances in the 2017 Champions Trophy. Upon the completion of the 3-match series against England, which they won 2-1, India will not be playing any more ODIs before the ICC event begins in June.
At the post-match press conference in Kolkata, Kohli said, “It's not such a bad thing. The more T20 cricket we play, we'll get better at death bowling. That's one thing I feel will be our advantage. As far as batting is concerned, the one area we look to focus on would be maintaining our batting techniques. And just using T20 cricket and ODI cricket as an extension of your Test batting, not necessarily be reckless out there and slog every ball we play.”
On India’s issues at the top of the order, he felt, “We have very good openers with us. You have to give chances for people to come back into form. To get players ready for international cricket is very difficult. I think if we back our openers and give them confidence, it's all about one or two innings in international cricket. Once you get the flow, everything clicks. The (2013 edition) Champions Trophy is where we saw Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan as an opening revelation.”
In case you didn’t know...
India‘s upcoming calendar reads – 3 T20Is against England, a one-off Test against Bangladesh and 4 Tests against Australia. The 2017 IPL season will occupy the April-May slot as usual and hence India will not have any more ODIs to finalise their team combination before the Champions Trophy in the United Kingdom.
The heart of the matter
Although India won the series, their bowling attack came unstuck on batting-friendly pitches, with England managing to compile scores of 350, 366 and 321. However, Kohli lauded Bhuvneshwar Kumar for his exemplary performance in the death overs during the second ODI in Cuttack. The skipper also heaped praises on all-rounder Hardik Pandya for ending the series as India's leading wicket-taker.
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Perhaps, the biggest concern for India at the moment, will be their opening combination. With Rohit Sharma unavailable due to injury, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane all failed to make an impact at the top of the order. However, Kohli backed them to regain their form and add firepower to the batting lineup.
What’s next?
The 3-match T20I series against England will start on Republic Day at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. India will be eager to continue their recent momentum with another successful display.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Since the emergence of T20Is, the game’s calendar has become even more packed. However, the scheduling could have at least been formulated to avoid four months without ODIs for the Indian team, especially going into a multi-nation tournament like the Champions Trophy. In an eerie coincidence, the same thing happened prior to the 2013 edition as well. Will history repeat itself and can India go on to defend their title? Only, time will tell.
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