Skipper Virat Kohli during India's practice session at the Edgbaston on Wednesday. Image Source: XtraTime[/caption]Internet Desk: India takes on their neighbours Bangladesh in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and Indian skipper Virat Kohli thinks that his team has enough ability to handle pressure well. India who are the defending champions of this tournament registered a convincing 8-wicket victory against South Africa in their last group B game which saw the defending champions topping their group. He also things that their neighbouring opponents are a strong side has proven to the world that they can defeat any team any day and as a result the Indian captain is not at all keen to take this all important semi-final game easily.
“We have been in these kinds of games before quite a few times, but there are no guarantees in sports. We will use whatever momentum we’ve gained in this tournament to execute what we to. We’re not going to go according to past results and what we’ve done in past tournaments” said Virat.
Yuvraj Singh is set to play his 300th ODI match and Kohli has praised the formers contribution saying “His contribution to cricket has been outstanding. He’s been a total match winner for India, won so many big tournaments and this is just a testimony to the kind of talent he possesses. I congratulate and wish him all the very best, and hopefully he can play a lot more for us and get those match-winning performances all over again”
Evident from the previous three performances, the top order has performed tremendously well while the middle order hasn’t been tested well, to which Kohli removed all sources of concerns by saying “No, that’s not a concern. As a batsman you want to finish games off, so you’re not necessarily going to get out thinking my middle order hasn’t got any time”
Kohli thinks that their opponents Bangladesh are no longer minnows and are a strong opponent to fight.
“It’s no surprise to anymore to anyone that they are really well, and they’ve really improved their setup and the kind of players that they have now. No one takes any opposition for granted and Bangladesh has taken huge strides.”
On being asked about the acrimony between the two teams that occurred in the World Cup quarter finals 2015 Kohli replied “It’s been 24 months. I seriously don’t think that anyone is thinking about the game. We just want to play good cricket as a side. Our opposition can be anyone, we’re not really thinking about what happened in the past or things that are on at the international level.
The Indian skipper also ruled out any chances of Rohit Sharma missing the game on account of injury by claiming “No, he is fit and he is eligible to play”
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