By Faisal Kamal
Hyderabad, Nov 8 (PTI) Aiming to seal the series against Sri Lanka after two massive victories, Indian skipper Virat Kohli today said the team is preparing to be ahead of the 2015 World Cup.
Team India thrashed the visitors by 169 runs in the first ODI and won the second game by 6 wickets, but Kohli insisted that every game is a challenge.
“We treat every game like a knockout game, so I am not thinking about 2-0. We are making plans for every game and trying to execute those plans. That’s the kind of mindset we want to build going into a tournament like the World Cup, where, come the knockout stage, you play one knockout game and you’re out,” said Kohli on the eve of the third one-dayer here today.
The Men in Blue have literally outplayed the Lankans in every department so far, but Kohli is focused at looking within rather than rejoicing in the opposition’s failure.
“It doesn’t really matter what the other team is feeling like, what their strengths and weaknesses are, as long as we are focused on what we want to do. If we improve our areas of concern, oppositions should not matter, and that’s the kind of culture and belief we are trying to build into this team now.
The more you run away from your own core group, the more pressure you invite,” said the top-order batsman.
“It’s all about staying closer as a group, and working on our flaws and our strengths, rather than thinking about the other team. If we are so confident in our ability, we should be able to and we should be good enough to handle situations and all kind of bowling attacks in the world. We are taking this series and the tri-series as a chance to really test ourselves and create targets for ourselves,” he added.
A confident-looking India are looking to seal the series at Uppal itself and Kohli said the mission has just begun for the World Cup Down Under.
“It’s about being ruthless for us, and winning every game. That’s the kind of passion all these guys have, it’s a matter of bringing it out. We have to keep the team closest to the combination we want to take into the World Cup, and let those guys play their roles better instead of trying to experiment too much at this point of time. It’s about finding the perfect combination that we feel 100 per cent sure of going into the World Cup.
