Not taking anything for granted: Kohli

In the pre-match press conference Kohli said he and his team had played many similar matches but there was “no guarantee” in this sport. “As we’ve seen in the league stages, as well, a lot of teams have surprised the opposition, and we’re certainly not taking anything for granted. We will use whatever momentum we’ve gained in this tournament to execute what we want to. 

We’re not going to go according to past results and what we’ve done in the past tournaments,” the Indian captain said. Kohli said though Umesh Yadav did well against Bangladesh in the practice match before the tournament, it was not something that would warrant a change in the team. 

“We gave a lot of people chances in the practice games, and he did bowl well in that game, so does not mean that you necessarily play someone who’s done well against a particular opposition in a practice game. Ashwin was brilliant in the last game, and I don’t see any good reason to change that. The team played really well. 

It was a complete performance, and I certainly don’t think that there’s any need to change anything,” Asked about Yuvraj Singh, who will be playing his 300th ODI, Kohli praised the southpaw and emphasised that he was a vital cog in the Indian team. 

“His contribution to Indian cricket has been outstanding. He’s been a total match-winner for India, won us so many big tournaments and big series, and this is just a testimony to the kind of talent he possesses. You obviously need to have all those things in place to be able to play 300 games for India,” said Kohli. The Indian captain said convincing wins where the middle-order batsmen were not tested at all did not pose any problems for him. 

“Obviously as a batsman you want to finish off games, so you’re not necessarily going to get out thinking my middle order hasn’t got any game time. So given an opportunity, everyone would like to finish games convincingly, and as I said, everyone is batting well. 

In the practice games everyone has got a hit, and we know Kedar (Jadhav) and Hardik (Pandya) are playing really well at the moment, so we’re not bothered at all. Rather they’re looking for an opportunity if the team is in a bit of trouble,” Kohli explained.